Changes and Discoveries - DISCONTINUED
by marvelouslystupid
Summary: 11/OC - with the man Daniel had been travelling with gone after saving humanity from the Master, he must deal with the loss of his friend despite him being a man wearing a bow tie. How will he deal with this change along with not being the only companion in the TARDIS? What will the cracks through time do to affect Daniel? Second in To Own His Hearts.
1. Eleventh Hour

A/N: Hello everyone! Landing here. If you're new here, welcome, or if you're one of the patient people who has waited for MONTHS for this bloody story to finally be pulled out of its hiatus… WELCOME BACK! I know its been too long, but thank you to everyone whose favourited and followed this story while its been on Hiatus, hell even people have been following me personally. It still surprises me that people manage to find this story.

Just as a heads up there will not be a defined posting schedule. Before this story was updated every Sunday without fail but I think that this idea was a bit stressful for me since I felt like my writing suffered because I was just pumping them out without much thought of certain plot ideas… but I will aim for it to be posted on the weekend 'cause it works for me and hopefully it gives y'all the freedom to read in a bulk.

The rest of the chapters will remain on here until they are updated, so at least you can read the other five chapters. I'll stop rambling now and we can get on with the rewritten chapter.

I'd advise you to read Breaking the Rule before this one, but I think you could get the general gist of the relationship between Daniel and the Doctor just by reading this. The story is told from Daniel and the Doctor's joint point of view so they won't know all the facts that we did when we watched the show, so there will be scenes missing from the chapters if they get separated from Amy and Rory.

 **Important: This will be an M/M Fanfic so if you don't like it then** _ **please**_ **click out and find something else.**

For reference Daniel now stands at head height with the Eleventh Doctor and has light brown hair, blue eyes and doesn't really have a set outfit unlike the Doctor, but he is still wearing his clothes from the End of Time. I image him to look like Grant Gustin.

~DW~ means a scene break

 _~DW~_ means flashback

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, all right go to the BBC, but I do own any and all original characters. If I did then Rory would have been treated better in this series because Amy really doesn't deserve Rory.

 **Changes and Discoveries** – Eleventh Hour

~DW~

The TARDIS was crashing over London. The console was sparking with certain parts of the interior engulfed in flames, unable to repair herself after the brutal regeneration of the Doctor. Daniel was running frantically around the console as barely visible lights began to flash under or above certain levers or buttons. While he knew how to pilot the TARDIS, Daniel Young was more used to a relaxed environment… not when the ship and it's core pilot were still reeling from what had happened only moments ago, thankfully the ship was doing the best she could do to help the human. "Doctor!" he yelled over the noise of the TARDIS, wincing as a wall panel behind him fell to the ground, "I need some help!"

The Doctor; still dressed in his previous incarnations clothes though now burnt and raggedy, jumped into action… or he would have if the TARDIS hadn't been rocked by an explosion from directly under the console, sending him tumbling out of the doors! Daniel had been quick to react, grabbing onto the TARDIS with a tight grip, but had yet to notice the Time Lords situation.

The Doctor began to pull himself into the TARDIS, the sonic in his mouth, but paused in his actions when he heard the sound of a bell… it was Big Ben and he heading straight for it. Using the sonic on the controls, the console sparked and Daniel retracted his hand from a lever, glancing down at the raw red skin of his palm. The TARDIS sped up, lifting itself as the Doctor let out a sigh of relief as the spire of Big Ben barely missed his new _parts_.

He pulled himself inside, closing the doors behind him and fell against them. He looked over at Daniel, who continued to run around the console like a mad man, and smiled. The smile faded quickly when the TARDIS lurched to the side and began to spin out of control. Daniel closed his eyes and prepared himself to be thrown against the metal fence behind him but a pair of hands braced his hips, the Doctor pushing them closer to the console. "We're crashing!" the Doctor yelled, leaning back so he wasn't yelling directly into Daniel's ear.

The Doctor looked into the rotor and immediately caught the unamused look from Daniel in the reflection. "Oh really!" he deadpanned, adjusting his grip on the console, "what gave you that idea?!" he pulled the lever in front of him, hoping that would stop the TARDIS from throwing them around… or so he thought.

~DW~

The TARDIS had crash landed on her back, atop a shed, in the back garden of a small house. Even with the doors shut, the young red haired girl who had gone to investigate could hear the sound of the Doctor and Daniel squabbling as they climbed up from the library… or was it the swimming pool? Daniel wasn't too sure anymore. It seemed that during their fall through the TARDIS, the ship had quickly reconfigured herself to ensure that her pilots would come to a somewhat safe landing without killing the two men.

The doors of the TARDIS swung open, the steam and smoke leaving the TARDIS allowed the human inside to breath without difficulty, and the young girl watched on as a grabbling hook was blindly thrown out of it, latching onto something in the garden. After a few grunts, Daniel pulled himself up onto the box and swung his legs over so he was sitting. "Do you need a hand?" he panted out, looking down at the Doctor.

The Doctor pulled himself up and noticed the girl. "Can I have an apple? All I can think about, apples. I _love_ apples," he grinned over at Daniel, who dropped down and looked at something in his hand; he'd have to ask him about it later, "maybe I'm having a craving. That's new, never had cravings before," he pulled himself up so he could straddle the TARDIS and looked back inside, "whoa! You should get a look at this Daniel!"

"I don't have to look, Doctor, I lived it."

"Are you ok?" the girl asked, her Scottish accent sounding strong against the normal accents of the Doctor and Daniel.

The Doctor put both his legs over the side, like Daniel had done, and looked down at the girl. "Just had a fall, all the way down there," he gestured to the TARDIS, "right to the library. Hell of a climb back up."

"You're both soaking wet." The girl frowned, looking between them.

"We were in the swimming pool."

"You said you were in the library."

"So was the swimming pool," Daniel cut in, stroking the box as the Doctor grinned down at the girl, "tried to save us from hurting ourselves any more then we already are."

The Doctor peered down at him; his grin had faded into a look concern as he glanced over Daniel to see if he could see any visible forms of harm. "Are you two policemen?" the girl asked, confused but also a little hopeful.

"Why?" Daniel looked over at the girl, trying to ignore the Doctor as he looked down at him, "did you call the police?"

"Did you come about the crack in my wall?"

This caught the Doctor's attention as he suddenly looked over at her. "What cra…" he began before falling to the ground. "Agh!"

"Doctor!" Daniel exclaimed, rushing over to his side.

"Are you alright, mister?" the girl asked, concerned for the madman who had just crawled out of the police box.

"No, I'm fine," he pushing himself up so he was kneeling, Daniel holding him steady, "this is perfectly norm…" as he spoke, wisps of golden energy left his mouth and they watched as it disappeared into the night sky.

"Who are you both?" the girl asked.

Daniel looked down at the Doctor's hands, seeing the energy rising from within them. "I don't know yet, Daniel would call me the Doctor but I'm still unsure," the Doctor squeezed one of Daniel's hands and turned to look him with a concerned look, "does it scare you?"

"No, it just looks a bit weird." The girl instead replied, not understanding that the question had been directed at Daniel.

The Doctor turned to face the girl, letting go of Daniel's hand, as he focused his attention on the girl… there would be a time later to ask Daniel how he was, "the crack in your wall… does it scare you?"

"Yes."

The Doctor jumped up, pulling Daniel along with him. "Well, then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor and this is Daniel Young. Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't' wonder off." The Doctor told her, striding away with purpose, leaving Daniel to stand then in a state of shock, before he walked into a tree and fell to the ground.

"You alright?" the girl asked again, moving to stand next to Daniel.

"Early days, steering's a bit off." The Doctor replied from the floor, rubbing his forehead.

Then girl then turned to Daniel, who she could see was looking down at his hand in a mixture of confusion and… fear? She wasn't too sure, grownups often made strange faces in strange situations. "Are you alright?"

Daniel looked down at the girl and almost didn't reply. No he wasn't alright, but there was a time and a place to think about it. "Yeah," he lied, walking over to help the Doctor up. "Just been a rough day."

~DW~

The girl had taken the two men into her house, Daniel had been relatively silent and stood just off to the side, making an effort to try and figure out a way to stop the damp clothes stick to him… and to try and ignore the way the Doctor was watching him. But the Doctor wondered if he'd done something wrong.

He knew how much regeneration affected both himself and those around him. Rose had told him how much the regeneration had affected her after Satellite Five, told him how _guilty_ she had felt by forcing him to take the vortex out of her and how frantic she had been to get him back afterwards, and again when he had to regenerate after being shot by the Dalek he'd seen how Donna reacted when she had no clue as to what was happening. But Daniel _knew_ about regeneration, he'd seen the old monitor displaying his regenerations so the box had shown him at the very least… maybe he didn't like this new body of his. He frowned to himself at that. Why did he care if Daniel liked this new body? He had very little control over his appearance, regeneration was always a gamble. These were questions he'd have to ask once the TARDIS was ready to operate and they could leave.

"If you're a doctor, why does your box say 'Police'?" the girl asked, pulling the Doctor attention away from Daniel and his thoughts, as she handed him an apple.

Taking a bite of it, he watched as Daniel walked over to the kettle and switched it on, he swore he saw the palm of one of his hands was bright pink… maybe he imagined it. His eyes widened in disgust and he spat out the piece of apple, scrunching his face up as he looked at the girl. "That's disgusting! What is that?"

"An apple." The girl told him dryly, Daniel smiled as it reminded him of the deadpan tone he often used with him… or used to use.

"Apples are rubbish. I hate apples."

"You said you loved them."

"No, no, I love yoghurt. Yoghurt's my favourite. Give me a yoghurt!" Daniel sent his a look. "Please." He quickly added at the end, smiling at Daniel as though he was a child.

The girl did as she asked, reaching into the fridge and handed him a yoghurt and grabbed a bottle of milk which she gave to Daniel. Daniel set out two cups, one with tea and one with coffee, and poured the hot water into each of them. He nodded his head in thanks to the girl, offering her a small smile.

Without a spoon, the Doctor opened the yoghurt and poured it into his mouth when Daniel wasn't looking. The girl grinned when the Doctor made a noise of content before his expression morphed back into disgust. "I _hate_ yoghurt!" he stressed, spitting the yoghurt onto the floor. "It's just stuff with bits in."

"You said it was your _favourite_." The girl stressed, almost groaning at him.

"New mouth, new rules." He was about to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth when a teal towel was handed to him, he gave Daniel a quick smile as he stood up. "It's like eating after cleaning your teeth, everything's wro-agh!" in a sudden and surprising movement to them all, the Doctor's whole body convulsed and ended up smacking himself in the forehead. Despite the situation, an amused smile crossed Daniel's face as he made his way over to the Doctor, who was rubbing the spot he had smacked.

"What is it?" the girl frowned, looking at the Doctor before turning to look at Daniel. "What's wrong with him?" she assumed that he was a carer of sorts to the strange raggedy man.

Daniel let out a soft laugh and the Doctor smiled at the sound. "What's wrong with me? It's not my fault you can't give me decent food," he teased, narrowing his eyes at her playfully. "Why can't you give me decent food? You're Scottish, fry something."

With his back turned to the Doctor, Daniel shook his head. Something's never changed; he would always be rude no matter what face he wore. He set the two cups of drink in front of the Doctor, a teasing smile on his face. "You shouldn't be rose rude to her, she might be young but she's Scottish which means she _just_ might lob a frying pan at your head." He sent to girl a wink, laughing when she began to raise a frying pan above her head as she played along with the joke.

~DW~

The girl stood before a stove and began to fry up some bacon as the Doctor used a towel to dry his hair. The cup of tea had been drunk but the coffee had been quickly poured down the drain, not that it surprised either Daniel or the girl. Thinking of Daniel, he was nowhere to be seen, but he had heard someone walk up the stairs earlier.

"Ah! Bacon!" the Doctor grinned, sitting himself at the small table and took a bite of the bacon and the girl watched with a laugh. The Doctor made a face and again spat out the food. "Bacon! That's _bacon_ ," he glared at the bacon before looking up at the girl. "Are you trying to _poison_ me?"

~DW~

Standing in the bathroom just across from the young girl's room, who she had learnt was named Amelia, Daniel was frowning down at his hand. He'd come up here to run his burnt hand under a cold tap but now he looked at it… there was nothing. Not even a single mark that shouldn't be there, the small scars and miniscule burns that had previously been on his hand had seemingly healed. Daniel shook his head, convincing himself that they hadn't just miraculously healed and that somehow the TARDIS or even the Doctor was involved.

He probably should tell the Doctor about this but the Time Lord clearly had enough on his plate without adding his own problem on top of it.

~DW~

Once again Amelia found herself stood before the stove with a saucepan of baked beans as the Doctor watched on. "Ah, you see beans," he was still sat at the table, instantly scooping a fork full of beans when they were placed before him… only to spit them into the sink as Amelia watched on in annoyance. "Beans are evil… bad, bad beans."

~DW~

Giving up on hot food, Amelia simply spread some butter over a slice of bread. "Bread and butter, now you're talking." He grinned, taking a bite of it.

~DW~

When Daniel returned to the kitchen the scene in front of him almost reminded him of something from a comedy show. The Doctor had paused at the doorstep that went out into the garden with the plate with his bread and butter in his hand, his arm swung back as if he was going throw it like a Frisbee, and then he looked at Amelia who was sat the table with her head in her hands. "What have I missed?" Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked between the two.

The Doctor quickly spun around and hid the plate behind his back while Amelia just looked up at him with an exasperated look. "Nothing," the Doctor quickly replied, they both realised that his voice would squeak when he lied, but he cleared his throat and repeated, "Nothing."

Daniel just walked over and took the plate but left him the slices of bread. "Don't throw the plate," he sighed, passing the plate to Amelia. "I don't think she'd appreciate having to explain why there is a plate missing." He stepped back and watched as the Doctor grinned and threw the bread like it was Frisbee; they both winced as they heard a cat meow.

~DW~

With Amelia sat at the table, a glass of orange juice sat before her, she watched as Daniel rifled through the fridge in a desperate attempt to find something that would keep the Doctor calm and somewhat quiet. "How do you feel about carrots?" Daniel asked, looking over the fridge door to where the Doctor was pacing.

"Carrots? Are you insane?" the Doctor made a face and Daniel raised an eyebrow as the Doctor brushed him out of the way. "No, wait, hang on. I know what I need…" he opened the freezer door, looking for something. "Fish fingers and custard." He took both items, ignoring the disgusted look Daniel gave him.

~DW~

The Doctor sat across from Amelia, dipping a fish finger into a bowl of custard then taking a bite. Amelia was sat eating ice cream from the container while Daniel started cleaning up the mess the Doctor had left behind. Making sure that Daniel wasn't looking, the Doctor lifted the bowl of custard and drank from it. It made Amelia giggle and Daniel shook his head.

"Funny." Amelia grinned.

"Am I?" the Doctor asked. "Good. Funny's good. What's your name?"

"Amelia Pond."

"Ah, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond," he tested the name, drawling out her last name with a grin. "Like a name in a fairy tale. Are we in Scotland, Amelia?"

"No. We had to move to England. It's rubbish."

The Doctor laughed while Daniel wiped his hands with a nearby towel, a frown on his face as he looked around. "So what about your mum and dad?" Daniel asked. "Are they upstairs? Thought the Doctor would have woken them up by now."

"I don't have a mum and dad." She told them and Daniel looked down at the girl with a sad smile. "Just an aunt."

"I don't even have an aunt." the Doctor chimed in, offering the girl a smile.

"You're lucky."

"I know. So, your aunt." the Doctor looked around, almost ready to have Amelia's aunt come storming in. "Where is she?"

"She's out."

"And she left you all alone?" Daniel asked, surprised.

"I'm not scared."

"'Course you're not. You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, men fall out of a box, man eats fish custard while the other cleans up," the Doctor stated. "And look at you, just sitting there. So know what I think?"

"What?"

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."

~DW~

Amelia had taken them into her bedroom to show them the crack in the wall. The Doctor jumped ahead and stood at the wall, staring at it. "You've had some cowboys in here," he muttered to himself. "Not _actual_ cowboys though that can happen."

Amelia stood in the doorway, an apple in her hand. "I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them." She handed Daniel an apple with a smiley face craved into it.

"Sounds like a wonderful mum," Daniel smiled down at her, tossing the apple into the air and catching it, placing it in his pocket. "I'll keep this for later," he turned to the Doctor, walking up beside him. "Any ideas on the crack?" he asked quietly.

"The wall is solid and crack doesn't go all the way through," Amelia stepped towards them. "So here's the thing, where's the draught coming from?" they watched as the Doctor ran the sonic screwdriver along the crack then checked the readings. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. You know what that crack is?"

"No." they both answered.

"It's a crack," the Doctor took Daniel's hand and guided it across the crack. "I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't _in_ the wall."

"What is it, then?" Amelia asked, Daniel just watched the Doctor closely.

"Everywhere. In everything, it's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together… right here in the wall of your bedroom," still holding Daniel's hand, the Doctor placed it against the crack. "Sometimes, you can hear…"

"A voice? Yes." She cut in.

Daniel frowned and placed his ear against the wall, hand still pressed over the crack, as he strained his ears to hear something. Closing his eyes, he blocked off everything going on around him, focusing on the faint and muffled voice. A chill ran down his back as the voice suddenly grew clear. "Prisoner Zero had escaped." Daniel repeated the message, opening his eyes to look at the Doctor.

"Prisoner Zero?" the Doctor asked, frowning.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped," Amelia repeated with a nod. "That's what I heard. What does it mean?"

Daniel stepped back from the wall, his hand falling to his side. "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner," Daniel suggested, looking to the Doctor for conformation. When he nodded, he offered Amelia a smile. "Do you know what that means?"

"What?" she asked.

"You need a better wall." the Doctor joked as he moved her desk out of the way. "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or…"

"What?" she looked at the Doctor.

"You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine," the Doctor gave Daniel a troubled look and he nodded his head in understanding, pushing Amelia behind him. "And you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"

"Yes."

"Everything's going to be fine." Daniel assured.

It was a safety precaution, if whatever was lurking beyond the wall was dangerous they'd be able to get Amelia to safety. Both the Doctor and Daniel had an idea of the risks of blindly investigating something, but they could take care of themselves. This didn't stop Amelia from poking her head from behind him. The Doctor reached out and took Daniel's hand, squeezing softly, and with his other hand he pointed the sonic at the crack. A bright light began to shine through the crack as it widened. The Doctor and Daniel squinted, seeing what looked like jail cells on the other side.

"Prisoner Zero had escaped," a voice echoed from the crack, the Doctor took a step closer to the crack, Daniel squeezing his hand gently. "Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Hello?" the Doctor called out. "Hello?"

A giant blue eye peered at them through the crack.

"What's that?" Amelia gasped.

A ball of light shot out from the crack, striking the Doctor's pocket. The Doctor fell against the bed and Amelia stepped out from behind Daniel just the crack quickly closed on them.

"There. You see, told you it would close," the Doctor stepped to Daniel's side, a hand on his shoulder. "Good as new."

"What was that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?"

"I don't think so," Daniel answered, shaking his head as he reached into the Doctor's pocket. "Whatever it was, it sent him a message," he opened the psychic paper and quickly read the message, showing it to the Doctor. "It must have been a guard or something, left you a message, 'Prisoner Zero has escaped.'"

The Doctor took the paper with a frown. "But why tell us?" he looked at the crack and then to Daniel, a look of realisation flashed over his face. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Amelia frowned.

It took Daniel a second and she watched as his face dropped. "Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here," Daniel breathed, the same realisation flooding him as he began to look around the room. "But he couldn't have. We'd have seen him."

The Doctor ran out of the room and into the hallway outside her bedroom. "It's difficult. Brand-new mw, nothing works yet but there's something I'm missing… in the corner… of my eye." He turned slowly on the spot, facing each of the doors until he stopped at the door at the end of the corridor.

Daniel ran out after him when an echoing sound of machinery reached his ears followed by the toll of a deep bell. The TARDIS!

"Doctor! TARDIS!" Daniel called, rushing down the stairs with Amelia and the Doctor following.

They ran outside. "We've got to get back in there! The engines are phasing, it's going to burn!" the Doctor shouted.

"But… it's just a box! How can a box have engines?" Amelia questioned.

"It's not just a box," Daniel freed the grappling hook and gathered the rope. "It's a time machine."

"What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?"

"Not for much longer if we can't get her stabilised." the Doctor took the rope from Daniel and looped it through the door handles. "Five minute hop into the future should do it."

"Can I come?"

Daniel and the Doctor shared a look. "Not safe in here, not yet," the Doctor answered, linking his fingers together and Daniel used them as a booster to get him into the box. "Five minutes. Give us five minutes, I'll be right back."

Daniel had dropped down into the TARDIS and missed the small sigh that escaped the girl. "People always say that."

"Am I people?" DO I even look like people?" the Doctor questioned with a grin, squatting so he was at eye level with her. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor."

Amelia smiled and the Doctor turned, climbing onto the TARDIS. Holding onto the rope, he gave her one last smile before jumping with a shout of, "Geronimo!"

The TARDIS doors slammed shut and the TARDIS dematerialised into the night sky.

~DW~

The TARDIS rematerialised back in the same spot of Amelia's garden, this time up right, as the Doctor and Daniel stumbled out of the TARDIS, clothes held up to their noses and mouths as dark smoke poured out of the TARDIS.

"Find Amelia," Daniel coughed out, hunched over on with his hands on his knees. "I'm gonna try and stop the smoke."

With a nod the Doctor ran back to the house. "Amelia! Amelia! I worked out what it was. I know what we were missing! You've got to get out of there!" he used the sonic on the door lock and it opened after a few tries. "Amelia?" he ran up the stairs. "Amelia, are you all right? Are you there?" he went to the door that had caught his eye before and tried to open it with the sonic. "Prisoner Zero is here. Prisoner Zero is here! Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is…" he turned and was hit in the head with a cricket bat.

~DW~

Back outside, Daniel had stepped out of the TARDIS with a respiratory mask on, his attempts of clearing the TARDIS of smoke hadn't been going well and he needed to get some oxygen. The TARDIS doors slammed shut the moment he was outside, and when he moved to tug them open he heard a very audible locking sound. "Hey!" he yelled, pulling the mask down and slamming his hand on the door. "Open up!"

~DW~

The Doctor slowly came to and as his vision cleared he saw a red haired police officer wearing a _very_ short skirt speaking into her radio. "White male, mid-twentys, breaking and entering." she reported. "Send me some back-up, I've got him restrained." She ended the conversation and saw the Doctor was awake. "Oi, you! Sit still."

"Cricket bat." the Doctor groaned. "I'm getting cricket bat."

"You were breaking and entering."

The Doctor tired to stand but found himself handcuffed to a radiator. "Well, that's much better. Brand-new me, whack on the head. Just what it needed."

"Do you want to shut up now? I've got back-up on the way!"

"Hang on, no, wait – you're a policewoman."

"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?"

"But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?"

"Amelia Pond?"

"Yeah. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? We promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far, has something happened to her?"

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time."

"How long?"

"Six months."

His eyes widened. "No, no, no! I can't be six months late! I said five minutes. I promised." the officer walked away, reaching for her radio. "What happened to her? What happened to Amelia Pond?"

She lifted the radio to her lips. "Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up, this guy knows something about Amelia Pond."

~DW~

Daniel frowned as he stepped away from the TARDIS and looked around the area. They had defiantly over shot since it'd been late into the night when they'd left Amelia now it looked like it was the middle of the day.

What surprised him was that there was a shed. He hadn't seen a shed when they had landed seconds ago, but the TARDIS _had_ landed on something. He took a couple of steps closer to the shed, the smell of wood lacquer reached his nose. How far had they overshot?"

~DW~

"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house now." the Doctor stated.

"I live here." The officer replied.

"But you're the police."

"Yes, and this is where I live," she rolled her eyes, "you got a problem with that?!"

"How many rooms?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."

"Why?"

"Because it will change your life."

"Five," she pointed to each door, "one, two, three, four, five."

"Six."

"Six?"

"Look."

"Look where?"

"Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you."

The officer frowned but slowly turned to look at the door the Doctor had been eying. "That's… that is not possible. How's that possible?"

"There's a perception filter round the door. Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it."

"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never noticed."

"The filter stops now. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff me now!"

The officer slowly began to walk down the hall towards the room. "I don't have the key. I lost it." She shrugged.

"How can you lost it?! Stay away from the door!" she kept walking. "Do not touch that door!" she put her hand on the doorknob. "Listen to me! Do not open that," she turned the knob and he groaned. "Why does no one ever listen to me? Do I have a face that nobody listens to?" she entered the room. "Again…" he frantically searched his pockets. "My screwdriver, where is it? Silver thing, blue on the end. Where did it go?"

"There's nothing here." The officer called back.

"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could se it? Now, please, just get out!"

"Silver, blue at the end?"

"My screwdriver, yeah."

"It's here."

"Must of rolled under the door."

"Yeah. Must have and then it must have jumped up on the table…"

"Get out of there! Get out of there! Get out! Get out of there!" he stretched as far as he could with the handcuffs as he tried to peer into the room. "What is it? What are you doing?"

"There's nothing here, but…"

"Corner of your eye."

"What is it?"

"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it! Do not… look."

~DW~

Daniel was about to reach out to touch the shed only to jump and turn to face the house, having heard the woman scream. "Doctor!" he yelled, racing into the house through the backdoor the Doctor had left open.

"Get out!" he heard the Doctor shout as he reached the stairs, he managed to catch a glimpse of the officer running frantically down the hall. "Give me that!" the Doctor took the sonic from her and used it on the door's lock before turning it to the handcuffs… but nothing happened. "What's the bad alien done to you?"

"Doctor!" Daniel gasped as he came up the stairs, looking at his handcuffed hand and then to the officer. "Did you need a moment to finish?" he managed to quip, the Doctor sent him an annoyed look.

The officer just looked at him with wide eyes but before she could say anything there was a loud bang from the locked door. "Will that door hold it?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, course!" the Doctor rolled his eyes, giving her the same annoyed look he'd given Daniel. "It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space; they're all terrified of _wood_."

A bright light flashed around the edges of the door. "What's that? What's it doing?"

"I don't know, getting dressed?" the Doctor groaned out. "Run. Just _go_. You're back-up's coming, we'll be fine." The Doctor wiped a finger along the sonic, Daniel pulled a face as goo dripped from his finger.

"There is no back-up."

"I heard you on the radio." He looked up at her, surprised.

"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio."

"You're a _police_ woman."

"I'm a kissogram!" she exclaimed, removing her hat and let down her bright ginger hair.

The door to the room fell into the hallway as a man in blue coveralls holding the lead to a large Rottweiler stood in the doorway, glaring at them. Daniel slowly stood up as he eyed them, his eyes widening when he noticed something odd.

"But it's just…" she breathed.

"No, it isn't." Daniel nodded at them. "Look closer."

Her eyes widened as she did as asked, seeing that the _man_ growled like a dog while the _dog_ remained impassive. "What? I'm sorry, but what?" she looked between the Doctor and Daniel, hoping for an answer.

"It's all one creature, one creature disguised as two." the Doctor explained, watching as the man and the dog turned their heads in unison, "clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though, got the voice muddled, did you?" they looked straight at them. "Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?"

The multi-form began to advance on them and opened its mouth to show a set of unnaturally sharp teeth. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Daniel shouted, tugging the officer back slightly, the creature halted. "The three of us, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back-up."

"I didn't send for back-up!" the woman reminded.

"Well you know how to play along don't you." He rolled his eyes before focusing on the creature, correcting himself. "Okay, fine, NO back-up! And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we HAD back-up, then you'd have to kill us!"

It was as if the universe was playing some kind of cruel game with him as all of a sudden, a loud voice began to announce. "Attention, Prisoner Zero, the human residence is surrounded," they realised that the voice was the same one from the crack. "Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."

"What was that?" the woman asked Daniel, who just groaned in response.

The Doctor snickered behind him and he turned to glare down at the Time Lord. "Well I'm glad you're finding this _funny_!" the Doctor quickly stopped snickering and Daniel turned back to the creature for ONE final time. "Okay, for the _last_ time. We DO have back-up and that's definitely why we're SAFE."

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice threatened.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me!"

The creature turned into one of the other rooms off the hall. As the voice continued to repeat the message, the Doctor started to bang the sonic on the floor in an attempt to get it to work. "Work! Work! Work!" C'mon!" he continued to bang the sonic until it flickered back on, and he used it on the handcuffs.

Taking Daniel's hand, the Doctor turned to the woman. "Run!" he took the lead, the woman following them close behind.

They ran outside and the Doctor used the sonic on the door. "Kissogram?" the Doctor asked her as she passed.

"Yes!" she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?"

"You broke into my house! It was this or a _French maid_!" she followed the Doctor and Daniel as they walked to the TARDIS. "What's going on? Tell me! Tell _me_!"

"An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house… any questions?"

"Yes!" She deadpanned.

The Doctor was about to put the key into the door of the TARDIS when Daniel stopped him. "The TARDIS won't open," he shook his head. "I think you destroyed it when you d…"

Daniel stopped himself and the Doctor frowned. They both knew what was to be said but Daniel couldn't bring himself to say it. It wasn't dying, he knew that, but to him the Doctor had been dying the moment he stepped out of that chamber and then some stranger came in to take over. In the nine months he had been travelling with the Doctor… he had never considered the man _dying_.

The woman turned around to look up at one of the windows that overlooked the garden, the creature stood there barking at them. "Come on." She grabbed the Doctor.

"No, wait, hang on," the Doctor let go of Daniel's hand and out of her grip. "Wait, wait, wait! The shed," he ran to the shed. "We destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one," the woman shrugged. "Let's go."

"But the new one's got old; it's ten years old at least." He sniffed the wood before rubbing his finger along the wood and licked it.

"Oh please don't lick it!" Daniel groaned too late, crinkling his face in disgust.

"Twelve years," the Doctor muttered to himself, his eyes wide as he looked at the two humans. "We're not six months late, we're _twelve_ years late." Daniel's eyes widened and the Doctor walked towards the woman.

"He's coming." She weakly tried to change the subject.

"You said six months," he accused. "Why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go."

"This matters. This is _important_. Why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes?!" she yelled at them, her Scottish accent bleeding through the British accent she had been using moments ago.

"What?" the Doctor's eyes widened.

"Amelia?" Daniel breathed.

Amelia shook her head, turning away from them. "Come on."

"What?" the Doctor repeated.

"Come on!" she pulled him by his arm, Daniel following behind.

"What?"

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice continued to threaten.

They ran out of the back garden, just missing the creature who stood at the back door.

~DW~

Amelia had been leading them away from her house and where on their way down a village road, when the Doctor stopped. "You're Amelia."

"You're late." She kept walking.

"Amelia Pond, you're the little girl."

"I'm Amelia and you're _both_ late."

"What happened?" Daniel asked, feeling incredibly guilty.

"Twelve years."

"You hit me with a cricket bat." The Doctor huffed.

" _Twelve years_."

" _A cricket bat_."

"Twelve years and four psychiatrists."

"Four?" Daniel asked.

"I kept biting them."

"Why?" he almost laughed.

"They said you weren't real."

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice came through the speakers of a nearby ice cream van.

"No, no, no, come on!" Amelia groaned. "What? We're being staked out by an ice cream van?"

The Doctor and Daniel headed for the van followed closely by Amelia. "What's that?" the Doctor frowned. "Why are you playing that?"

"It's supposed to be Clair De Lune." The vendor shrugged.

The Doctor picked up the radio and put it to his ear. "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice repeated.

The Doctor stepped away from the van and they looked around, spotting a jogger with an MP3 player frowning at the device in confusion, then to a woman pulling her mobile away from her ear.

"What's happening?"

The Doctor turned and leapt over a low white fence into a pretty front garden while Daniel and Amelia stepped around to the front. They ran through the front door where an elderly woman was stood before the television, flicking through the channels as they all displayed the same image; a large blue eye they had seen in the crack in Amelia's wall.

"Hello!" the Doctor grinned. "Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area," he glanced to Amelia's costume. "Also, crimes. Let's have a look." He took the remove from her.

"I was just about to phone," she smiled. "It's on every channel," she looked at Amelia. "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?"

"Well, sometimes." She nodded.

"I thought you were a nurse."

"I can be a nurse."

"Or, actually, a nun."

"I dabble."

"Amy, who are your friends?"

"Who's Amy?" the Doctor frowned. "You were Amelia."

"Yeah, now I'm Amy." Amy replied.

"Amelia Pond," Daniel smiled at her. "That was a great name."

"Bit fairy tale."

The woman frowned as she looked between Daniel and the Doctor. "I know you two, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before."

"Not me. Brand-new face," he pulled his face but pointed to Daniel. "But you might know him, though he's from London so maybe not," he turned to Amy. "And what sort of job's a kissogram?"

"I go to parties and I kiss people," she cleared her throat when Daniel snorted. "With outfits. It's a laugh."

"You were a little girl five minutes ago."

"You're worse than my aunt."

"I'm the Doctor and he's Daniel Young, we're worse than everybody's aunt… but Daniel is worse," Daniel gaped at him before smacking him on the arm and he turned to the woman. "And that is not how we're introducing ourselves," he picked up a radio and used the sonic on it, the room hearing the voice in both French and German before turning it off. "Okay, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world."

The Doctor opened a window and looked up at the sky. "What's up there?" Amy frowned as Daniel was pulled to the window. "What are you looking for?"

Daniel frowned as he looked up at the clear blue sky unsure what he was looking at until he realised he was looking at the sky without his eyes burning up. That wasn't good.

"Okay, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core," the Doctor stepped away from the window as he began to ramble. "They're going to need a 40 percent fission blast."

"But they'll have to power it up first, won't they?" Daniel questioned as a young man entered the room.

Daniel couldn't help but eye the man up, the Doctor frowned as he caught Daniel eying him up. "So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's twenty minutes," the man was taller then the Doctor and he stood on his tip toes to look into his eyes, puffing his chest out slightly. "What do you think, twenty minutes? Yeah, twenty minutes. We've got twenty minutes."

Amy frowned as she looked between the Doctor and the man. "Twenty minutes to what?"

"Are you the Doctor?" the man looked over to Daniel. "Are you the… oh what did she call you."

"They are, aren't they?" The woman's eyes widened in recognition. "He's the Doctor and that's Daniel Young! The Raggedy Doctor and his carer," Daniel gave Amy an amused look. "All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor and his carer, it's them."

"I know." Amy whispered, almost as though she couldn't believe they were really there.

"Cartoons?" the Doctor asked, bemused, as he looked over to Daniel who gave him a small smile, lifting his eyebrows as if he agreed with his bemusement.

"Gran, it's them, isn't it?" the man asked his grandmother. "It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up!" Amy turned to the Doctor. "Twenty minutes to what?"

"The human residence," Daniel spoke up, crossing is arms in concern. "They weren't just talking about your house… they're talking about the _planet_ ," the Doctor nodded, encouraging him to continue his hypothesis. "Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet… twenty minutes to the end of the world.

~DW~

A young boy ran down the road with a toy helicopter in hand. The Doctor, Daniel and Amy were walking fast in the opposite direction. "What is this place? Where are we?" the Doctor asked.

"Leadworth." Amy replied.

"Where's the rest of it?"

"This is it."

"Is there an airport?"

"No."

"A nuclear power station?"

"No." Daniel answered this time, giving the Doctor a bemused look.

"Even a little one?"

"No." Amy stressed.

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester, half an hour by car."

"We don't have half an hour."

"Do you have a car?" Daniel asked.

"No." Amy replied.

"Well, that's good! Fantastic, that, twenty minutes to save the world," the Doctor complained. "And we've got a post office. And it's _shut_! WHAT is that?"

"It's a duck pond," Amy and Daniel followed the Doctor to the small pond. "Is he always this weird?" she asked Daniel.

"Don't know," he shrugged. "I've only met him… but his _past_ self was strange."

"Why aren't there any ducks?" The Doctor asked, not hearing them.

"I don't know, there's never any ducks." Amy shrugged.

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?"

"It just _is_. Is it important, the duck pond?"

"I don't know," The Doctor groaned, feeling another tremor from his regeneration. "Why would I know?" he sat himself on the ground, Daniel crouching beside him with a concerned look on his face. "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."

He placed Daniel's hand on his chest, allowing him to feel his two hearts beating as if he had been running a marathon. The Doctor watched as Daniel placed his hand onto the other of his chest, a strange smile on his face as he felt the hearts beating… almost as he realised something. Daniel hadn't noticed that he was almost within inches of the Doctor's face but the Doctor _did_. He smiled sadly as he thought back to how they'd been this close only hours ago, how they had just watched the Master stop the Time Lords and how they'd been _so_ close to kissing and winning until Wilfred had knocked.

Maybe he should talk about it. Once they stopped the planet from burning and the TARDIS had repaired herself, they'd sit down in the kitchen and talk about what was going to happen in that very moment… and how he hoped they might be able to actually do it properly this time. The Doctor blinked at that thought, his face turned a light shade of red. It seemed that whatever thoughts he had suppressed in his last incarnation were starting to remerge in full force.

The sky darkened and the Doctor was thankful for the distraction.

"What's happening?" Amy gasped as she looked up. "Why's it going dark?" the sun appeared grey and actually able to be looked at before returning to its somewhat normal self. "So what's wrong with the sun?"

"Nothing, you're looking at it through a force-field," the Doctor told her, sighing in relief when his face felt like it returned to its normal colour. "They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet," he stood up from the ground, pulling Daniel with him, as they watched as the villagers were taking photos of the sun. "Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone!"

"This isn't real, is it?" Amy frowned. "This is some kind of big wind-up."

"Why would we wind you up?" Daniel asked with a frown of his own.

"He told me you had a time machine."

"And you believed him."

"Then I grew up."

"Oh, you never want to do that." Daniel grinned.

He opened his mouth to say something else when a hand was pressed to his mouth. "No, hang on, wait!" The Doctor yelled, Daniel just stared at him. "I missed it. I saw it and I missed it. What did I see? I saw," he closed his eyes as he focused. "What did I see?"

He replayed everything he had seen. Looking back a the people taking photos, a woman in a phone box and then to a man dressed in scrubs, who was facing away from the sun but instead at the Multi-Form….

… he then yelped and shook his hand, sending Daniel an annoyed look. "You bit my hand!"

"You covered my mouth!" Daniel shot back.

The Doctor rolled his eyes but turned back to Amy. "Twenty minutes. We can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns," he grinned. "Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help us."

"No." Was all she said.

"I'm sorry?"

"No!" she grabbed him by the tie and pulled him away.

"Amy! No! Daniel help! What are you doing?" she pushed him against a car as the driver stepped out, slamming his tie into the door and locked the door with a key she had taken from the driver. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Who are you?" She demanded as Daniel ran over.

"You know who we are."

"No, really, who are you?"

"As much as you deserve an answer," Daniel cut in gently. "We have twenty minutes to save the world and this isn't going to help anyone."

"You'd better talk quickly, then!"

"Amy, I am going to need my car back." The owner of the car said, looking between the three of them in confusion.

"Yes, in a bit," she waved him off. "Now go and have a coffee."

"Right… yes." The driver walked off.

Daniel reached into his pocket and tossed it to her. "Catch."

Amy turned the apple in her hand, looking at the smiley face carved into it.

"He's Daniel Young and I'm the Doctor," the Doctor began. "We're time travellers. Everything we told you twelve years ago is true. I'm real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go now, everything you've ever known is over."

"I don't believe you."

The Doctor grabbed her wrist. "Just twenty minutes. Don't believe _me_ that's fine but believe him," he nodded to Daniel. "Fresh as the day you gave it to him and you know it's the same one," she glanced down at the apple then back to him. "Amy, believe for twenty minutes."

Amy hesitated before unlocking the car. "What do we do?"

"Stop that nurse!" he shouted, running across the green with Daniel and Amy in tow, and took the phone from the nurse. "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?"

"Amy?" He turned to her.

"Hi!" She smiled. "Oh, this is Rory, he's a… friend."

"Boyfriend."

"Kind of boyfriend."

"Amy!"

"Man and dog, why?" The Doctor cut in, looking between them.

"Oh, my god, it's them!" Rory's eyes widened as he looked between Daniel and the Doctor.

"Just answer his questions, please." Amy pleaded, seeing Daniel giving her an amused look.

"It's them, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor and his carer…"

"Yeah, they came back."

"But they were a story. They were a game."

"Man and dog," the Doctor grabbed Rory by the shirt, frustrated. "Why? Tell me now."

"Sorry," Rory stuttered. "Because he can't be there. Because he's…"

"In a hospital, in a coma." Rory and the Doctor finished at the same time.

"Yeah." Rory eyed him.

"Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" the Doctor let go of Rory's shirt and smoothed it out. "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind."

The Multi-form snapped and snarled as Daniel stepped towards the creature, the Doctor following close behind. "Prisoner Zero." Daniel called to the creature.

"What, there's a Prisoner Zero too?" Rory gawked.

"Yes." Amy nodded.

There was an electrical buzzing and they looked up to see a spaceship fly over the green, an eye sticking out of it as it swivelled back and forth.

"See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology," the Doctor slipped the sonic out of his pocket. "And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver," he lifted it above his head and turned it on. It was chaos as streetlights shattered, car alarms going off, sirens wailing as everyone began to shout. "I think someone's going to notice, don't you?"

Prisoner Zero barked at them. The Doctor lowered the sonic, aiming it at a phone box, which exploded. The sonic itself then sparked and fizzled, causing the Doctor to drop it on the ground. "No, no, no, don't do that!" the Doctor smacked the sonic against the palm of his hand.

The ship headed away from them.

"Look, its going." Rory frowned.

"No, come back, he's here!" the Doctor called up at the ship, Daniel shaking his head. "Come back! He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero…"

Prisoner Zero turned into a mist and escaped down a drain.

"Doctor!" Amy called to them. "The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain."

"Well, of course it did." He sighed.

"What do we do now?"

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open." Daniel offered, crossing his arms.

"No TARDIS, no screwdriver," the Doctor ran a hand through his face. "Seventeen minutes. Come on, think. Think!"

"So that thing," Amy glanced to the drain. "THAT hid in my house for twelve years?"

"Multi-forms can live for millennia," the Doctor explained. "Twelve years is a pit-stop."

"So how come you two show up again on the same day you lot do? The same minute?"

"They're looking for him, but followed us. They saw us through the crack, got a fix. They're only late cos I am."

"What's he on about?" Rory frowned.

"Now, sport, give me your phone." The Doctor turned to him, holding his hand out.

"How can they be real? They were _never_ real."

"Phone, now, give me!"

Rory handed the Doctor the phone. "They were just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as the Doctor."

"These are all coma patients?" Daniel asked, watching as the Doctor swiped through the pictures.

"Yeah."

"No, they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero." The Doctor corrected.

"He had a dog, though," Amy frowned. "There's a dog in a coma?"

"The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog," the Doctor looked up suddenly. "Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good-looking one."

"Thanks." Rory rolled his eyes.

"Jeff." Daniel said, face flushing when Amy and the Doctor stared at him.

"Oh, _thanks_."

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, big laptop, I need Jeff's laptop. You two, get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone us when you're done."

The Doctor took Daniel by the hand and began to head off, only for Daniel to stop. "You go to Jeff's."

"What? Why?" the Doctor frowned.

"Prisoner Zero is a criminal for a reason, I can't let Amy and Rory deal with it alone," he turned to look at Amy and Rory. " _You_ can handle Jeff and I'll help clear the hospital."

The Doctor hesitated, his mind racing for any reason for him to have Daniel come with him. He'd caught him eying Jeff so he could suggest that Jeff had been eying him in return, but with his sudden strong feelings for Daniel something within him didn't want to risk Jeff actually taking a liking to Daniel. He looked over to Amy and Rory as they quickly walked over to a car and then to Daniel, who just gave the Doctor a reassuring smile. Damn that smile!

"Fine," the Doctor huffed. "But you call me if there's any trouble."

And with that, Daniel turned and ran to join Amy and Rory.

The Doctor ran into Jeff's bedroom, the man lying on the bed with his laptop on his lap. "Hello. Laptop, give me!" he grabbed the laptop.

"No, no, no, no, wait, hang on!" Jeff refused, holding onto the laptop.

"It's fine, give it here," the Doctor took the laptop and sat at the bottom of the bed, pulling a face as he saw what was on the screen. "Blimey! Get a girlfriend, Jeff."

Jeff looked away, embarrassed, as the door to his bedroom opened and his grandmother stepped in. "Gran!" he cried, wondering if anyone else could walk in.

"What are you doing?" She asked the Doctor.

"The sun's gone wibbly," the Doctor began. "So right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big conference call," he began to type. "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me. Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Oh, I like Patrick Moore." Jeff's gran cut in with a smile.

"I'll get you his number, but watch him, he's a devil."

"You can't just hack in on a call like that!" Jeff exclaimed.

"Can't I?" he smirked as he held up the psychic paper to the webcam.

"Who are you?" One of the experts asked. "This is a secure call. What are you doing?"

"Hello. I know, you should switch me off," the Doctor began to type again. "But before you do, watch this."

"I'm here too," Another expert said, watching as a string of equations appeared on a monitor before them. "I'm getting it."

"Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, here's an oldie but a goodie, why electrons have mass. And a personal favourite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get… fellas, pay attention."

The Doctor leant back from the laptop and looked around the room, as if looking for someone, before pouting slightly. All that showing off had been for _nothing_.

~DW~

Daniel, Amy and Rory quickly got out the car and ran into the hospital. Daniel pulling the fire alarm.

~DW~

The Doctor was typing something on Rory's mobile. "Sir, what are you doing?" An expert asked.

"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on," the Doctor explained. "Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. Okay, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish, whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?" Patrick Moore asked.

"Patrick, behave!"

"What does the virus do?" An expert asked.

"It's a reset command, that's all," the Doctor assured them. "It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero ay exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain," the room was silent and the Doctor turned to look at Jeff. "Jeff, you're my best man."

"Your _what_?" Jeff asked, wide eyed.

The Doctor closed the laptop part way. "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?"

"It's your bedroom," the Doctor shrugged. "Now go, go, go."

The Doctor left the room and Jeff opened the laptop. "Okay, guys, let's do this."

"Oh," the Doctor stepped back into the room. "And delete your internet history."

And with that, he left.

~DW~

Rory had stepped away from Amy and Daniel as he spoke to one of the other nurses, telling them the half lie they'd come up with in the ride to the hospital, while Daniel was adding Rory's number to his phone. "Is there something on my face?" Daniel suddenly asked, not looking up from the phone.

Amy looked away sharply, face flushed as she'd been caught staring at him, but asked the question. "Can we trust the Doctor?" Daniel looked at her in confusion. "It's just… you said you didn't know if he was weird and that you've only just met him."

Daniel let out a sigh, trying to figure out a way to explain himself to her. "We've been through a lot before we met you Amy, and I can't tell you everything," it was Amy's turn to give him a questioning look. "But before we crashed in your garden, the Doctor _I_ knew was gone… sacrificed himself to save one person," he smiled sadly, thinking back. "the Doctor can do this thing when he changes…"

Rory stepped over to them, unknowingly cutting Daniel off. "Something's happened up there," he informed them. "We can't get through."

"Yes, but what happened?" Amy asked, turning to look at him.

"I don't know, no one knows," Rory turned to Daniel. "Have you phoned him yet?"

"I'm phoning him now," Daniel held the phone to his ear. "Doctor? We're at the hospitqal, but we can't get through… what?"

"What did he say?"

"Look in the mirror."

The frowned but turned to look in the nearby mirror, Amy's eyes widened as she realised what he meant. "Ha-ha! Uniform!" she began to put her hair back up into a bun.

"Couldn't you have just told me about Amy's uniform?" Daniel rolled his eyes, watching as Amy walked up to the nurses and began to tell them she was an officer sent to investigate. "Are you on your way? You're going to need a car."

~DW~

"Don't worry," the Doctor told him as he drove towards the hospital. "I've commandeered a vehicle."

He hung up the phone, grinning as he turned on the sirens to the fire engine he was driving.

~DW~

The trio of humans stepped out of a lift and saw the corridors were a mess; gurneys and tables had been overturned, scrubs and utensils littered the floor. Daniel quickly pulled a fire extinguisher off the wall, pulling out the pin as Amy and Rory gave him questioning looks. "What?" he shrugged. "Prisoner Zero is a prisoner for something and I'm sure it's not for dodging his taxes."

A woman holding the hands of two young girls, presumably her daughters, ran around the corner. "Officer." The woman breathed in relief.

"What happened?" Amy asked, getting into character.

"There was a man. A man with a dog," the woman began to tell them, her voice thick with emotion. "I think doctor Ramsden's dead and the nurses."

Daniel handed Amy the phone and she quickly began to call the Doctor. Daniel tensed as a sudden sense of… danger washed over him; he shook his head as he blamed the nerves getting to him.

"Are you in?" the Doctor asked into the phone.

"Yep," Amy replied. "But so's Prisoner Zero."

"You need to get out of there."

The feeling grow stronger every second, his heart pounding and his grip around the extinguisher. He found himself turning away from Amy to the woman, his eyes widening as the woman began to speak… but her mouth wasn't moving. His eyes moved from her to one of the children. "He was so angry, he kept shouting. And that dog, the _size_ of that dog, I swear it was rabid," Daniel slowly reached behind him and swatted Amy and Rory, never taking his eyes off the creature. "And he just went mad, attacking everyone. Where did he go, did you see him? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies."

Amy and Rory's eyes widened as they looked at the woman… no, Prisoner Zero "Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I?" the creature asked, smirking at the looks of fear on their faces. "I'm always doing that, so many mouths." The creature hissed as the woman and children's mouths opened to reveal the same set of teeth that Amy and Daniel had seen in the house.

"Oh, my god!" Rory gasped.

Prisoner Zero moved to advance when Daniel aimed the funnel in its face, spraying the creature. "Run!"

"Daniel!" the Doctor yelled into the phone, having heard his cry. "Daniel, what's happening?" they ran down the corridor and into of the wards, closing the doors and Amy quickly slid a broom through the handles. "Daniel! Amy! Someone talk to me!"

They slowly backed away from the doors and into the center of the ward, Daniel stood ahead of them as he continued to aim the extinguisher at the doors, Amy held the phone up. "We're in the coma ward, but its here. It's getting in."

"Which window are you?"

"What? Sorry?"

"Which window?"

Amy quickly ran to the window, looking out of it. "First floor on the left, fourth from the end."

The broom snapped and Prisoner Zero, still using the family as its from, entered the room, glaring at Daniel briefly, but turned its attention to Amy. "Oh dear little Amelia Pond, I've watched you grow up," the creature smirked. "Twelve years, and you never knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor to return… but not this time, Amelia."

Prisoner Zero opened its mouth once more and Daniel sprayed the foam at it again, glaring at it as it spat out the foam. "Oh do yourself a favour and stop making yourself such an easy target."

Daniel's phone beeped and Amy looked down at it, seeing a text from the Doctor saying ' **duck'**. Daniel stopped the extinguisher and they all could hear the wail of a siren getting closer, Amy pushed Rory down just as a ladder from the fire engine broke through the window. The Doctor climbed up the ladder and joined Amy and Rory in a crouch. "Right! Hello! Am I late?" He asked, smiling at them, "no, three minutes to go. So still time."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" the creature asked, glaring at Daniel when he held up the extinguisher again.

"Have you been spraying her?"

Daniel smiled. "Only when the mouth is open, which happens a _lot_." He sent a pointed look to the creature.

"You're brilliant, you know that."

"Well, I do try." they turned back to Prisoner Zero.

"Take off the disguise, they'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."

"The Atraxi will kill me this time," Prisoner Zero rolled its eyes, "if I am to die, let there be fire."

Daniel frowned. "But you came into this world by opening a crack in space and time," he tried to suggest, remembering the Doctor's analysis earlier, "Do it again, just leave."

"I did not open the crack."

"Well somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they cam from?" it smirked upon seeing their confused looks. "You don't know, do you?" Prisoner Zero's voice changed into that of a little girl, taunting them. "The Doctor and the Phoenix in the TARDIS don't know. Don't know, don't know," its voice changed to the woman again. "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open and the Phoenix will rise just as Silence falls."

Daniel tensed and the Doctor reached out and took his hand, squeezing it in comfort. There it was again, Phoenix, he was being called Phoenix once again by someone other then Carmen _or_ the Ood… he had brushed it off, almost laughing at the prophecy they had said about him, but now with the fact they had both correctly predicted that the Doctor would regenerate for someone who knocked four times… did it mean _his_ prophecy would come true?

There was a clicking sound that drew Daniel away from his fear and he looked up at the wall behind prisoner Zero. "And we're off! Look at that," the Doctor pointed, "look at that!" the clock on the wall now read 0, "yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But you do know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out… and do you know what that word is?"

"Zero." Daniel breathed, grinning.

"Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source, in, what, under a minute?" he took Rory's phone out of his pocket, "the source, by the way, is right here," a bright light shined through the window, "oh! And I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited," Prisoner Zero shrugged, "while I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now," he scrolled through the images and sent them through the virus, "and the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare," the Doctor held is arms out, successful. "Who da man?" he was greeted by silence, he turned to Daniel.

Daniel shook his head, a wide smile on his face. "Never say that again."

"Then I shall take on a new form." Prisoner Zero interrupted.

"Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years." The woman and her children began to glow.

Daniel's eyes widened as he turned to look at Amy, realising what Prisoner Zero had said. "Amy!" Daniel yelled, watching as she collapsed to the floor.

The Doctor and Daniel rushed to her side. "You've got to hold on, Amy!" the Doctor pleaded, putting his hands on Amy's face. "Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

"Guys?" Rory cut in, looking at something behind them.

They turned their attention to where Prisoner Zero stood; now taking the form of the Doctor. "Well, that's rubbish," the Doctor huffed. "Whose that supposed to be?"

"That's you." Both Daniel and Rory informed him, the latter frowned at him in confusion.

"Me? Is that what I look like?"

"You don't know?" Rory asked.

"Busy day, why me, though?" the Doctor stood, facing Prisoner Zero. "You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not," a familiar Scottish accent spoke from behind the copy of the Doctor, as the young Amelia Pond stepped out. "Poor Amy Pond… still such a child inside," Prisoner Zero rolled its eyes. "Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

"No, she's dreaming about me cos she can hear me," the Doctor realised, rushing back to Amy, "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside, I tried to stop you, but you did," he said to her. "You went in the room. You went inside. Amy… dream about what you saw."

"No… no… No!" Amelia began to glow and transform into an eel like creature covered in goo, its original form.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero," the Doctor called to the creature, smirking. "A perfect impersonation of yourself."

Prisoner Zero was then caught in a light and began to writhe. "Prisoner Zero is located," the Atraxi called, "Prisoner Zero is restrained."

"Silence, Doctor," Prisoner Zero began to fade away. "Silence will fall and the Phoenix will rise."

There was a whoosh of air as the ship began to leave. The Doctor ran to the window and dialled something into the phone.

"The sun, it's back to normal, right?" Rory questioned, "that's… that's good, yeah? That means it's over," Amy began to wake, "Amy? Are you okay? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" Amy pushed herself up, holding her head.

"They did it. The Doctor and Daniel did it."

"Yeah we did," Daniel said to them, getting off the floor and walking over to the Doctor, asking him quietly. "What are you doing?"

"Tracking the signal back," the Doctor smiled at him, before looking at Rory. "Sorry in advance."

"About what?" Rory asked.

"The bill," the Doctor lifted the phone to his ear, "oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? Did you think no one was watching? You lot, back here. Now!" he tossed the phone to Rory, "okay, now I've done it."

They turned and left, leaving Amy and Rory staring at them in shock.

"Did he just bring them back?" Rory gaped, "did he just save the world from aliens and then bring the aliens back again?"

The Doctor strode down the corridor, determined, while Daniel followed closely behind. Amy and Rory followed close behind. "Where are you going?" Amy asked them.

"The roof, no," the Doctor turned and entered a room, "Hang on."

The Doctor began to sift through clothes, holding up clothes to his chest before throwing them away. Daniel just shook his head. "What's in here?" Amy frowned at the Doctor.

"I've saved the world," the Doctor shrugged, "I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!"

"You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens," Rory questioned him, "deadly aliens, aliens of death," the Doctor began to strip off his tattered clothes, "and now you're taking your clothes off… Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you."

"Are you _stealing_ clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know," Rory turned his back and looked at Amy, "are you not going to turn your back?"

"Nope." Amy replied, smirking slightly as she began to watch him strip…

… until she felt hands on her shoulders, spinning her so she too was looking away. "Need I remind you Amy," Daniel whispered into her ear, as he faced away too. "That your _boyfriend_ is beside you, so I'd advice that if you want to watch someone strip… it'd be him."

Amy just rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with a slight huff. They missed the Doctor turning back to look at Daniel with a smile before he returned to changing.

~DW~

They stood on the roof of the hospital, the Doctor now wearing a pink long sleeved shirt, black trousers with braces, boots and a number of ties draped around his neck. Daniel stood close behind, holding a tweed jacket in his arms… he had given the Doctor an odd look for the choice of clothing.

Together they strode across the roof to where the Atraxi ship was waiting for the Doctor. Amy and Rory stood back a bit.

"So this was a good idea, was it?" Amy called to them. "They were leaving."

"Leaving is good." Daniel agreed. "But never coming back is better."

"Come on, then!" the Doctor shouted up at the ship. "The Doctor will see you now."

The eye disconnected from the ship and scanned the Doctor, Daniel having taken a step to the side. "You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it." He turned to Daniel and held up a tie. "I don't know. What do you think?"

Daniel titled his head to the side and eyed it and then the outfit, shaking his head. The Doctor tossed the tie over his shoulder, Rory leant down to pick it up.

"Is this world important?" the Atraxi asked.

Daniel scoffed; an offended look crossed his face. "Important? What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Daniel gave the Atraxi an unimpressed look. "This planet is filled with a multitude of different species with progressive civilizations and you have the nerve to ask is it important?"

"Here's better question." the Doctor also gave the eye an unimpressed look. "Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He held up another tie for Daniel to inspect, tossing it over his shoulder when Daniel shook his head. "Well, come on, you're monitoring the whole planet. IS this world a threat?"

The Atraxi projected a hologram of Earth's history, showing them scenes of peace _and_ of war. "No."

"Is the human race guilty of _any_ crimes that would give you the right to incinerate the planet?" Daniel questioned.

More images of war and peace were projected. "No."

"Okay, one more. Just one," the Doctor nodded. "Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here," projections of many of the aliens the Doctor has faced over his years protecting the Earth appeared before them, the Doctor reached out and squeezed Daniel's hand at the sight of the Cybermen. "Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask it… what happened to them?" Daniel turned to face the Doctor, pulling off a red bowtie from his neck and held it for the man to take, before they turned to look at the many regenerations of the Doctor appeared before them.

Daniel smiled sadly as the Doctor's previous incarnation appeared on the screen, Amy and Rory frowned when they saw Daniel knelt down beside a older man, the recording having no sound but showed him talking to him, while the Doctor was flashing his sonic around the area, it seemed the Atraxi had caught them when they had been in New York. "Hello," the Doctor stepped through the projection, "I'm the Doctor. Basically… run!"

The Atraxi ship quickly departed, Amy laughed. The Doctor smiled at Daniel, who returned it, before they felt something in their pockets growing hot. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the TARDIS key and saw it was glowing.

The Doctor took Daniel by the hand and together they ran off.

~DW~

They ran into Amy's back garden where the TARDIS stood, the dull blue colour had been repainted with a much brighter blue and Daniel laughed when he saw a Saint John's Ambulance sticker on the door. "Okay! What have you got for us this time?" the Doctor unlocked the door and they stood there, amazed. "Look at you! Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you!"

Daniel stepped into the TARDIS with wide eyes as he stood in the doorway. Unlike before where the console was on one layer, this one was multi-levelled. The coral columns had been replaced and the entire console looked like an actual space ship, he looked to see a familiar long brown coat hanging on a coat stand and he smiled slightly.

With a click of the Doctor's fingers, the doors to the TARDIS closed, neither of them noticing Amy and Rory running into the garden.

~DW~

Amy stepped out of her house in a robe and slippers to find the Doctor and Daniel leaning against the TARDIS. "Sorry about running off earlier." the Doctor called to her. "Brand new TARDIS, bit exciting. Just had a quick hop to the moon and back to run her in. She's ready for the big stuff now."

"It's you." Amy breathed, looking between them. "You both came back."

"Course we came back." Daniel smiled, though he did sound slightly confused. "We always come back… something wrong with that?"

"And he kept the clothes."

Daniel snorted and the Doctor scoffed. "Well, I just saved the world, the _whole_ planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me! I kept the clothes."

"Including the bow tie."

"Yeah, it's cool." He tweaked the bow tie. "Bow ties are cool."

"Are you from another planet?"

"I am but Daniel isn't."

"What? Really?"

Daniel nodded. "Londoner."

"Okay…" Amy muttered.

"So, what do you think?" the Doctor asked.

"Of what?"

"Other planets. Want to check some out?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that _we_ want you to come with us." Daniel smiled at the girl.

"Where?"

"Wherever you like." the Doctor grinned.

"All that stuff, the hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero…" Amy trailed off.

"Oh, don't worry. That's just the beginning. There's loads more."

"Yeah, but those things, amazing things, all that stuff," then her tone turned angry. "That was two years ago!"

"Oh-oh! Oops."

"Doctor!" Daniel cried, smacking him on the arm.

"Yeah." Amy frowned at them.

"So that's..." the Doctor trailed off.

" _Fourteen_ _years_!"

"Fourteen years since fish custard. Amy Pond, the girl who waited, you've waited long enough."

Amy hesitated. "When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was _in_ the library."

"Yeah." the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to remember if he had scanned for the library. "Not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So… coming?"

"No!"

"You wanted to come fourteen years ago." Daniel reminded her.

"I grew up."

"Don't worry. We'll soon fix that." the Doctor snapped his fingers and the door to the TARDIS opened, bathing Amy in an orange glow as she entered. "Well? Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all."

The Doctor stepped in first, Daniel closing the door behind him as they watched Amy stare at the ship in awe. "I'm in my nightie..."

"Don't worry." Daniel laughed. "Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe… wherever that is."

" _And_ possibly a swimming pool." the Doctor pointed out. "So… all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will… where do you want to start?"

"You two are so sure that I'm coming." Amy looked at them.

"Yeah, we are."

"Why?"

"Cos you're the Scottish girl in the English village." Daniel joked.

"And I know how that feels." The Doctor smiled.

"Oh, do you?" Amy asked.

"All these years living here most of your life… and you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming."

"Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?"

"It's a time machine," the Doctor rolled his eyes. "I can get you back in five minutes."

"Why, what's tomorrow?" Daniel asked her.

"Nothing, nothing," they gave her a strange look, "just… you know, stuff."

"Alright, then. Back in time for stuff." A new sonic extended from the console's surface. "Oh! A new one!" he aimed the sonic at Daniel, flashing it. "Lovely." he patted the console. "Thanks, dear."

"Why me?"

"Why not?"

"I mean you've got Daniel with you and you're asking _me_ to run away with you two in the middle of the night." Amy shrugged. "It's a fair question. Why me?"

"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged. "Fun. Do we have to have a reason?"

"People always have a reason."

"Does he look like people?" Daniel asked.

"Yes."

"Been knocking around with Daniel for 9 months now, we've run into some issues together."

"He keeps talking to me, like _constantly_ , it's giving me a headache." Daniel joked.

"Oi!" the Doctor cried, poking Daniel in the side.

"So you need another person to save you from a headache?" Amy asked with a frown. "There's nothing else, nothing else at all?"

"Just that," the Doctor nodded. "Promise." Daniel frowned as he looked on the monitor, seeing that on a small screen there was a flickering line that seemed to mimic the crack from Amy's bedroom.

"Okay."

Daniel switched off the monitor. "So, are you okay, then?" Daniel asked. "Cos this place, sometimes it can make people feel a bit… you know."

"I'm fine, it's just…" Amy looked at the TARDIS with wide eyes. "There's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought… well, I started to think that maybe he was just like a madman with a box."

"Amy Pond, there's something you'd better understand," the Doctor cut in, serious. "It's important, and one day your life may depend on it," he then smiled. "I am definitely a madman with a box," Daniel rolled his eyes but laughed. "Ha ha! Yeah," Amy laughed. "Goodbye, Leadworth."

"Hello, everything." Daniel grinned.

And with that, Daniel pressed a switch on the console and they held onto the console as the TARDIS began to dematerialise into the night sky.

A/N: And so the adventure begins once again. Amy has joined the Doctor and Daniel. Will the relationship between the Doctor and Amy change with Daniel present? Or will history repeat itself?

Because I'm unsure if the old and new reviews will be deleted when the chapters become replaced I will be copying my answers from the reviews from the future chapters onto here because it wouldn't be fair to anyone whose commented on things in the past to have them erased.

 **OLD REVIEWS** :

 **BREAKING THE RULE:**

 _I know, its one of the few moments I remembered off the top of my head when thinking back to this episode, its such a sweet moment and I wish that Wilf had appeared more often then he had._

 _Thank you! I think it became a recurring theme for the Doctor's female companions for them to fall for the Doctor after just one adventure, so as much as I wanted there to be a romance between 10 and Daniel it just wouldn't have seemed real. I'll say I'm glad it came off as genuine. When writing a male!oc I was a bit worried it would be treated quite badly but I'm glad you thought it was a breath of fresh air._

 **THE ELEVENTH HOUR:**

 _Oh yeah, every Monday this story will be updated, so nothing will change there. I've gotta say though that it's really creepy that you say that because I was going to have a talk between them in the Eleventh Hour but put it here… are you watching my screen lol. I can say that I have plans for Rory and Daniel so you can keep any eye out for a Jealous Doctor._

 **THE BEAST BELOW:**

 _I have a Tumblr, which is .com. So feel free to follow me, come see what plans for future stories I have or if you have any questions you want to ask about this series or anything about me in general. Now that shameless plug is over, we can move on with the show._

 **VICTORY OF THE DALEKS:**

 _N/A:_

 **THE TIME OF ANGELS:**

 _It has happened before, won't say when but I will say if something to do with Daniel's abilities happen it is often followed up with a headache, so keep an eye out on that. We'll learn more about why River wants to keep it a secret in the Pandorica Opens and even more in Series 6, we'll even learn more about the Phoenix in later episodes. I hadn't even though about a ship name for them, which is funny because I do that even before I write a story, but I thank you for branding them as Donny._

 **FLESH AND STONE:**

 _Thank you, I'm glad you like the progress on the Phoenix plot. I was torn between it being similar to the Silence in series 5 but it becomes bigger in series 6 but with everything that I have planned for Daniel and the Phoenix plot, it had to begin to progress in this series. I can't make any promises if they will be alright, because I'm not a nice person!_

 **NEW REVIEWS (ONES I HAVEN'T ANSWERED FROM ONE MAN'S DREAM ONWARDS):**

I'm probably gonna start off most of these with a huge arse sorry for taking so long to answer these reviews but I'm glad you remembered how much you love/loved this series, hopefully I'll see you again in the future Wishing Well. I'm glad you love the way that Daniel became familiar and confident enough to be able to explain things to the companions.

Once again huge arse sorry but it _was_ alive… but its alive once again. Hopefully I'll see you in the future ;)

Once again huge arse sorry but I'm glad you really enjoyed it. Yeah I remember I got a bit frantic with the deadline coming up that I began to copy and paste an very old prewritten chapter based on Amy's choice and I guess I forgot to go back and properly edit it. Promise that when Amy Choice comes around again you won't see any mention of the Professor again.

The Wishing Well you are just too damn nice! I was so happy seeing that you were so understanding with my leave, but I'm back so thank you.

Bored411; I was so happy when I got your review that it made me go back and reread everything I had written and then I was like… I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna finally rewrite this. This carries onto the RETURN chapter but I'm glad you found it exciting, I've always been a fan of those TV adverts that tease the series in such a strange way (for example; Series 5 had that teaser where the ground exploded under Amy and the Doctor and showed some of the aliens they'd be fighting.) and I sort of wanted to write something similar… which is how Return came to be.


	2. The Beast Below

Disclaimer: See _The Eleventh Hour_

Changes and Discoveries – The Beast Below

~DW~

Amy floated among the stars, still in her nightgown and robe, outside the TARDIS door as the Doctor held her ankle as he and Daniel stood, watching her. "Come on, Pond," he pulled her inside the box. "NOW do you believe us?"

"Okay, your box is spaceship," Amy laughed. "It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space! Whoo!" she shouted into space before turning to them. "What are we breathing?"

"The Doctor extended the air shell," Daniel informed her. "We're fine."

The Doctor squatted down to look at something below "now, that's interesting…" they looked down to see they were flying over a spaceship that looked like a city. "29th Century. Solar flares roast the earth," he walked to the console, Daniel following. "And the entire human race packs its bag," he worked the controls. "And moves out till the weather improves."

"So what is that spaceship like Hawaii?" Daniel asked, thinking back to the small holiday they had had.

"Bingo!"

"So what was that? Spaceship England?"

"Doctor?" Amy called to them.

"Possibly, could be Scotland, could be any of them."

"Daniel?"

"But that was a proper city, Hawaii looked like Hawaii but that doesn't look anything like England." Daniel frowned.

"Isn't that amazing?" Daniel and the Doctor grinned at each other.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted.

Daniel's eyes widened as looked away from the Doctor to the doors, seeing Amy wasn't stood by them. They rushed down to the doors to see Amy clinging to the roof of the TARDIS. "Well, come on," the Doctor grinned up at her. "I've found us a spaceship."

Pulling Amy inside, Daniel led her to the monitor as it began to show them information on the screen. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland, all of it," Daniel read off the screen. "Bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal… that's a whole country, living and laughing and… shopping," the monitor showed them a market place making Amy chuckle. "Searching the stars for a new home."

"Can we go out and see?" Amy asked.

"Course we can," the Doctor nodded. "But first, there's a thing."

"A thing?"

"An important thing, in fact, thing one," the Doctor peered at Amy through a magnifying glass. "We are observers only, that's the one rule I've always stuck to in my travels," Daniel let out a sudden burst of laughter, just pointing at the Doctor as if he'd said something funny. "Ignore him, I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets."

Daniel's laughter died out as he looked at something on the monitor. "Oh, that's interesting." He muttered, stepping away from the monitor to allow the Doctor and Amy to see.

The screen now showed footage of a girl sitting alone, crying. "So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?" Amy asked, neither of them noticing Daniel slipping out of the TARDIS. "Cos if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die..."

The Doctor frowned and looked around the console, now it was his turn to slip out of the TARDIS. He watched as Daniel crouched down beside the crying girl, speaking quietly to her as he approached. She turned to see the Doctor approaching and quickly ran off. "Wait!" Daniel called to her, reaching down to pick up what looked to be a wallet.

"You could have waited for me and Amy," the Doctor said, turning to the TARDIS and waved at the camera for Amy to join them. "Sneaking out isn't a good thing to do."

"I'm not going to allow a child to cry alone," Daniel reasoned, standing up. "How can no one be concerned that a little girl is crying _alone_."

"Welcome to London Market," the tannoy announced. "You are being monitored."

They watched as Amy stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around at the market place and then up at the arched glass ceiling. "I'm in the future, like hundreds of years in the future," she said to them when they walked up to her. "I've been dead for centuries."

"Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one," Daniel linked arms with Amy as they walked together. "Never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Use your eyes, notice everything," Daniel recited. "What's wrong with this picture?"

"Is it… the bicycles?" she pointed a passing rickshaw. "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles."

"Says the girl in the nightie." The Doctor joked.

"Oh, my god!" she pulled the robe around her. "I'm in my nightie."

"Now, come on, look around you. Actually look."

"London Market is a crime free zone." The tannoy said.

"Life on a giant starship, back to basics," the Doctor informed her. "Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state… excuse me."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Drama queen." He muttered to Amy, who snickered.

They watched as the Doctor ran over to a table and took a glass of water from one of the people sitting in a restaurant. He set it down gently on the floor and looked at it intensely, Daniel looked with confusion before realising something… the water didn't move.

Unlike when they'd been on Starship Hawaii, every time he had set his drink down on a table it would shake vibrate creating ripples but there was nothing in the water, nothing in general was vibrating to show the ship had engines.

"Sorry, just checking all the water in this area," the Doctor told the people, who just stared at him. "There's an escaped fish," he tapped his nose before rejoining Amy and Daniel. "Where was I?"

"Why did you just do that with the water?" Amy frowned.

"Don't know, I think a lot," the Doctor shrugged. "It's hard to keep track. Now, police state, do you see it yet?"

"Where?"

Daniel pointed over in the direction of the young girl Daniel had spoken too earlier, his jaw clenched. "There."

The Doctor took Daniel's hand, giving a light squeeze, as he led them over to a bench facing the girl. The Doctor and Daniel sat side by side, never letting go of the others hands, while Amy sat herself beside Daniel, frowning at the little girl.

"One little girl crying. So?" Amy asked.

"Crying silently," Daniel pointed out. "I mean, children will scream and cry for attention or because they're hurt or when they are afraid…"

"When they cry silently, it's cos they just can't stop. Any parent knows that." The Doctor finished.

"Are you a parent?" Amy asked the Doctor more than Daniel.

Daniel looked to the Doctor, who just stared forward. He never spoke of his wife, Daniel knew he had a wife due to the fact that he spoke of his children and his granddaughter but it was like he pained him to speak of her. he assumed she had been one of the first casualties in the Time War, he wouldn't even tell him her title.

"Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them is asking her what's wrong," Daniel instead said, taking the pressure off the Doctor. "Which means they already know, and they're just terrified of it," Amy frowned, watching the people walk past more closely. "Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere."

They watched as the girl got up as the lift bell rang and ran off.

"Where'd she go?" Amy asked.

"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A," Daniel answered, surprising her. "Mandy Tanner," he pulled a wallet out of his pocket. "This fell out of her pocket when chinny here rocked up," the Doctor scoffed. "I'm going to ask her about those creepy booth things, while you two do some sleuthing."

"Since when did you become plan maker?" the Doctor asked with a playful smile.

"Why, got a better plan?"

"But those booth things," Amy cut in. "They're just _things_."

"Look again," Daniel nodded to a nearby booth. "Everything else here is battered and filthy, look at it all, but no one has touched or stepped near them."

"So what, you're going to ask her about the things in the booth?"

"Exactly that."

"While you and I," the Doctor continued on, assuming that he knew Daniel's plan for them. "Go down into a maintenance tunnel and figure out how a ship this big is creating no ripples," the trio stood as he checked his watch. "Meet back here in half an hour."

Daniel nodded. "If I'm not here, I'll be in the TARDIS."

The Doctor nodded, leaping over a bench, while Amy stepped around it. They turned to see Daniel give them a smile and head in the direction Mandy had ran off in. "So is this how it works, Doctor?" Amy asked him as they walked. "You never interfere in the affairs of other people or planets, unless there's children crying?"

"Yes." The Doctor nodded.

~DW~

Daniel stopped and looked around at the street he had walked down with a frown, looking down at the picture of Mandy in hopes that he might just catch a glance of her, before heading down another street when a voice called out to him. "You're following me," Mandy stepped out from behind some barrels. "Saw you watching me at the marketplace."

"You dropped this." Daniel smiled, holding out the wallet.

"Yeah, when your boyfriend made me jump."

"He's not my boyfriend," they walked into an area of street surrounded by barriers. "What's that?"

"There's a hole," Mandy sounded slightly frightened. "We have to go back."

"A what? A hole?"

The hole was right in front of a shop called Magpie Electricals but was covered by a construction tent. "Are you stupid? There's a hole in the road, we can't go that way," Mandy watched as Daniel pushed a gate open. "There's a travel pipe down by the airlocks, if you've got stamps. What are you doing?"

"Oh, don't mind me," Daniel turned to wink at her. "Never could say no to a 'keep out' sign," he looked at the tent and frowned at the lock. "What's through there? What's got you scared about a hole? Is there something under the road?" he sat on the ground and examined the lock.

"Nobody knows," Mandy turned to look at one of the booths with the strange looking men. "We're not supposed to talk about it."

"About what?" He turned to look at her.

"Below."

"Well that's slightly ominous," he muttered. "But it really does scare you, doesn't it? Holes in the floor? Creepy things in booths… like they're watching your every move."

"Who are you?" Mandy asked, frowning.

"Someone who is _far_ to concerned with a child's fear then he should be." he turned the lock in his hand.

"But why? Why do you care?"

"I didn't spend two years of my life learning childcare for nothing." He joked.

"No other adults care."

"I'm not like other adults, you should never grow up into a boring adult, Mandy."

"How did you get here?"

"Oh, just passing through, you know, with some friends."

"Your boyfriend?"

"Not my boyfriend," he realised something and spun to face her. "You don't sound freaked out by me having a boyfriend."

"Why should I?" Mandy frowned. "

"Why should I?" Mandy frowned. "My uncles are married."

"Really? Huh, good old England, allowing the gays to live in peace."

"So if he's not your boyfriend… who is he?"

Daniel smiled, closing his hand around the lock. "I don't know, we're not together but at sometimes I can't help but wonder if there's something more between us," Mandy gave him a confused look. "It's like… I've seen so much with him and we are closer then most but something happened and we almost kissed," his eyes widened. "We almost _kissed_! Why am I finding that hard to believe?" he winced in pain as he felt his head start pounding but he looked down at the lock, frowning as lock had severed itself from the mechanism. "Okay, I'm in… odd."

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know, full of surprises I am," he frowned but turned to her and smiled. "Coming?"

"No!"

"Suit yourself."

As Daniel prepared to go inside the tent covering the hole, Mandy looked over at the figure in the booth as it spun to show its third face, a very angry look with red eyes.

"Stop! You mustn't do that!"

Daniel crawled into the dark tent with red emergency lights flashing. He found a torch and turned it on, shining the light onto what looked like a tentacle swaying slightly from a hole in the ground. "Oh, my god," Daniel whispered, not risking waking the creature. "That can't be all of it… Can it?"

The creature suddenly struck at him with what Daniel thought looked like a stinger, and with a shout Daniel quickly scooted out of the tent. He stopped to find himself surrounded by hooded men. One sprayed gas from his ring and he fell unconscious.

~DW~

Amy and the Doctor climbed down a ladder and into a maintenance corridor, she watched as the Doctor placed his hands on the wall before leaning in to listen. "What are you listening for?" She asked.

"The last time me and Daniel were on a Starship like this there was engine vibrations, mostly covered by the waves and sand." The Doctor pulled out the sonic and flashed the wall.

"Hang on, you went somewhere with Daniel with a beach," Amy put her hands on her hips. "And I get stuck with _London_."

"This wasn't intentional; we could take you to Hawaii."

"You went to _Hawaii_! What was it, a date or something?"

The Doctor paused, not really sure how to answer. He had picked the coordinates for space Hawaii, but it had been a holiday… hadn't it? "What do you mean by a date?" he instead asked, surprising himself.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Like a proper date, you know, if you and Daniel had reached some sort of anniversary you'd take him on a _proper_ date."

It had been 9 months for them… that was an anniversary. So did it mean it was a date? "I suppose so," the Doctor mumbled to himself, Amy almost missed it. "It was like a date but not a date, if you know what I mean."

"Wait… aren't you two together?" Amy's eyes widened in embarrassment as she had spent the last 2 years think he and Daniel were together.

The Doctor didn't answer but instead looked down at the floor seeing a glass of water, thankful for the new distraction. Maybe after this he and Daniel could talk about Hawaii.

He lied down on the floor and stared at it, Amy watching with her arms crossed as she waited for any sort of ripples to appear. "The impossible truth in a glass of water," a woman dressed in a red cloak and a white mask whispered to them. "Not many people see it," he stood. "But you do, don't you, Doctor?"

"You know me?" the Doctor frowned.

"Keep your voice down. They're everywhere," the woman looked around as if trying to see someone. "Tell me what you see in the glass."

"Who says I see anything?"

"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"

"No engine vibration on deck, ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it. The water would move, so, I thought I'd take a look," the Doctor opened a power box on the wall. "It doesn't make sense. These power couplings, they're not connected. Look, look. They're dummies, see?" he crossed the hall and tapped on the wall. "And behind this wall, nothing. It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was…"

"No engines at all." The woman finished.

"But it's working," Amy frowned, speaking more to the Doctor then the woman. "This ship is travelling through space, we saw it."

"The impossible truth. We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."

"How?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know," the woman sighed. "There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us, Doctor. You're our only hope. Your friend is safe," she handed him a device. "This will take you to him. Now go, quickly!" She began to walk away.

"Who are you? How do we find you again?"

She turned to face them. "I am Liz 10. And _I_ will find you."

There was a crashing sound and they looked around. When they turned back, she was gone.

~DW~

Daniel woke up to find himself sitting in a chair in a small, locked room. There wasn't anything of interest in the room as he looked around, other then the booth and the retro styled televisions. "Welcome to voting cubicle 330C," a computerised voice said, switching on the monitors before him. "Please leave this installation as you would wish to find it," getting off the chair, Daniel walked over to the door and tried to see if he could open the door… usually there was a control panel. "The United Kingdom recognises the right to know all its citizens," there were three large buttons in front of the monitors labelled Protest, Record and Forget. "A presentation concerning the history of Starship UK will begin shortly. Your idenity is being verified on our electoral roll," Daniel sighed as he sat back in the seat. "Name, Daniel Andrew Young. Age, 1,312."

Daniel laughed. "And I am looking good."

"Relationship status," Daniel straightened, curious to see if any of his past relationships would appear. "Married."

His eyes widened and gasped. He shouldn't know _that_! Before he could do anything else, an image of an older man appeared on one of the monitors.

"You are here because you want to know the truth and I am talking to you because you're entitled to know," the man began. "When this presentation has finished, you will have a choice. You may either protest… or forget. If you choose to protest, understand this," Daniel frowned. "If just 1 percent of the population of this ship do likewise, the programme will be discontinue, with consequences for you all. If you choose to accept the situation, and we hope you will, then press the forget button. All the information I am about to give you will be erased from your memory. You will continue to enjoy the safety and amentities of Starship UK, unburdened by the knowledge of what has been done to save you. Here, then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people. May god have mercy on our souls."

Images flash across the screens, reflected in Daniel's eyes as the truth of Starship UK was revealed to him…

… He reacted and hit the forget button. He wiped his tears, confused as to why he had been crying, as a video message started on the screen. He watched with wide eyes as an image of himself appeared on the screen.

"This isn't a trick," the Daniel on the screen said, tears falling down his face. "If you love the Doctor in anyway at all you've got to find him and get him back to the TARDIS. Don't let him investigate!" Daniel's eyes widened at the open confession. "For the love of everything, stop him! Do what ever you have to. Just please, please get him off this ship!"

The door to the room opened and he turned to see Mandy sat waiting for him. The message began to loop once again, but he quickly shut it off as the Doctor and Amy stepped into the doorway. "Daniel?" he asked, concerned. "What have you done?"

Amy stepped into the room, giving him a hug. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know," Daniel frowned, the message kept replaying in his mind. "I don't even know how I got here."

The Doctor stood on a chair, using the sonic on a lamp above the chair he had been sat in. "Basic memory wipe, must have erased about 20 minutes," he jumped off the chair. "But I thought your mind was strong enough to withstand a memory wipe."

Amy frowned but didn't question it. "I suppose my minds still vulnerable from the Master," Daniel shrugged. "But why would I choose to forget?"

"Cos everyone does," Mandy spoke up. "Everyone chooses the forget button."

"Did you?" the Doctor asked.

"She's a child, Doctor," Daniel shook his head. "Even in the future I'm pretty sure that the basic British law states that anyone under the age of 18 are not allowed to vote."

"Any time after you're 16," Mandy nodded, confirming what Daniel said. "You're allowed to see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years…"

"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned," the Doctor finished. "Democracy in action."

"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish?"

"Oh, she's Scottish," he nodded to Amy, who gave a small wave. "I'm way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me."

"It played for Daniel, why won't it play for you?" Amy questioned.

"The difference being the computer doesn't accept me as human."

"Why not?" the Doctor looked at her. "You look human." Amy joined him by the monitors.

"No, you look Time Lord," the Doctor countered. "We came first."

"So there are other Time Lords, yeah?"

"No," the Doctor sighed. "There were, but there aren't… just me now. Long story, there was a bad day. Bad stuff happened, you know what? I'd love to forget all that, every last bit of it, but I don't, not ever. Cos this is what I do, every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government."

He pounded the 'protest' button and the door slammed shut, leaving Mandy outside. The smiling figure in the booth turned to show a very angry face with red eyes. The Doctor pulled Daniel and Amy into the corner of the room as the floor slide open.

"Say, 'Wheee!" the Doctor laughed.

"Oh my god!" Daniel shouted, his eyes widening.

"Argh!" Amy screamed as they fell down a chute and into a large room, the three of them covered in rubbish and what looked like slime.

The Doctor jumped up, first helping Daniel to his feet and then to Amy. "High-speed air cannon," he informed them. "Lousy way to travel."

"Where are we?" Daniel asked, pulling a face as he reached up to pull a piece of rubbish off his head.

"600 feet down, 10 miles laterally," he replied. "Puts us at the heart of the ship. I'd say… Lancashire," he looked around the room. "What's this, then… a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."

"It's a rubbish dump," Amy also pulled a face. "And it's minging!" She threw a piece of rubbish off her robe.

"Hang on," Daniel cut in, his eyes widening as a disgusting thought came to him. "Does that mean that sh…"

"No! Only food refuse," Daniel let out a sigh of relief and the Doctor sniffed. "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."

Amy turned to say something but slipped and fell to her knees. "The floor's all squidgy," she felt the floor with her hands, trying to stand up. "Like a water bed."

"But feeding what, though?" Daniel asked the Doctor, holding out a hand for Amy to take.

"It's sort of rubbery," she took the offered hand. "Feel it. Wet and slimy."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Daniel muttered, pulling her up.

There was a distant moaning in the distance as the Doctor finally pieced together where they were. "Er… it's not a floor, it's a," he looked between Daniel and Amy. "So."

"It's a what?" Amy frowned.

"The next word is kind of the scary word, take a moment, get yourself in a calm place," the Doctor took her hands. "Go 'omm'."

Amy frowned but complied. "Omm."

"It's a tongue."

"It's a _tongue_." Daniel deadpanned.

"A tongue," the Doctor grew excited. "A great big _tongue_!"

"This is a mouth?" Amy questioned, stunned. "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?"

"Yes, yes, yes, but on the plus side… roomy."

"How do we get out?" Daniel frowned.

The Doctor took out his sonic. "How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous! Blimey! If this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach," the creature grunted. "Though not right now."

"Doctor, how do we get out?" Amy repeated.

"Okay, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is," they looked ahead of them to see sharp teeth of the closed mouth. "Closed for business."

"We can try, though." Amy stepped towards the mouth.

"No!" the Doctor called to her. "Stop, don't move!" the mouth heaved in agitation. "Too late. It's started."

"What has?"

"Swallow reflex."

They slipped and fell back into the refuse, the Doctor managing to catch Daniel as they fell. The Doctor aimed the sonic at the mouth walls.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked.

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors."

"Chemo-what?" Amy frowned.

"The eject button."

"How does a mouth have an eject button?"

"Think about it!"

The creature growled and, on their knees, looked to see a wave of bile coming towards them. "Oh my god!" Daniel yelled.

"Right, then," the Doctor straightened his tie. "This isn't going to be big on dignity," he took Daniel's hand, who in turn took Amy's. "Geronimo!"

They all yelled as the bile hit them.

~DW~

Amy sat up from where she had been lying, covered in vomit, as she looked between the Doctor and Daniel, both of them equally covered in vomit.

"There's nothing broken," the Doctor called to her as he examined a door. "There's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick."

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"Overspill pipe, at a guess."

Amy stood, grimacing at the smell. "Oh, god, it stinks."

"That's not the pipe." Daniel gestured down at himself and then to her.

"Oh," she smelt herself. "Whoo! Can we get out?"

"One door, one door switch, one condition," he stepped aside to show her the 'forget' button. "We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot…" the lights switched on to reveal two smiling figures in booths. "Oh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" the faces spun to show an angry look. "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?" their faced turned very angry. "Stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?"

The booths opened and the figures stepped out, walking towards them. The Doctor pulled Daniel behind him as they stepped away from them.

"Doctor?" Amy eyes widened.

The Smilers sparked as if something had hit them, they turned to see the woman in the red cloak with a gun in her hand, her mask removed. She twirled the gun before placing it back in its holster. "Look who it is," the Doctor smiled. "You look a lot better without your mask."

"You must be Daniel," Liz smiled to Daniel. "Liz. Liz 10."

"Hi." He held out his hand for her, smiling back.

"Eurgh!" she grimaced, wiping her hand on her cloak. "The stories were true, your smile could charm an army, surprised you couldn't deal with them though," she headed for the door, missing the confused look he gave her, where Mandy stepped out from the corner. "You know Mandy, yeah?" she put her arm around Mandy's shoulder. "She's very brave."

"How did you find us?" the Doctor asked.

"Stuck my gizmo on you," she tossed a device to him which looked similar to the device he had used to find Daniel. "Been listening in. nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it."

"No. Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject."

"Then who and what are you, and how do you know us?"

"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious strangers, MOs consistent with higher intelligence, one with a smile that charmed the nation another with the hair of an idiot," the Doctor pointed like he was going to argue then ran his hand through his soaked hair instead. "I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."

"Your family?" Daniel asked.

Liz frowned as she looked to one of the Smilers, twitching on the floor. "They're repairing. Doesn't take them long. Let's move," Liz guided them out of the room and into one of the corridors. "The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII, Daniel had tea and scones with Liz II while you were kicked out…"

Daniel smiled at the memory.

 _~DW~_

 _Daniel and the Doctor were escorted through the halls of a what looked like a palace, the Doctor looked nervous while Daniel just looked at him._

 _"What is wrong with you?" Daniel whispered to the Doctor._

 _"Nothing!" his voice squeaked, Daniel just stared at him. "Nothing!"_

 _"Don't lie to me, Doctor. What is wrong?"_

 _The Doctor opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it when they were halted by the guards escorting them. "You," one of the guard pointed to the Doctor. "Will remain here while your companion speaks with her majesty."_

 _Daniel frowned slightly but stepped towards the guard. "Her majesty?" He asked, feeling rather stupid for asking._

 _"Her majesty Queen Elizabeth the second."_

 _Daniel spun to look at the Doctor, his eyes wide. "The_ queen _!" he hissed._

 _The Doctor shrugged as a set of doors opened, the guard nudged Daniel forward and quickly shut the doors. Daniel stared in awe at the large room of what he now realised to be Buckingham Palace and there, sat before a table with a pot of tea and two cups with saucers, was Queen Elizabeth the second. "Good afternoon, Mr. Young." She greeted him. "I've been expecting you."_

 _~DW~_

"Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she?" Liz continued. "Knighted and exiled you on the same day," she turned to look at Daniel, a smirk on her face. "And _you_ with ginger, down boy."

"Ginger?" Amy frowned, confused.

"He told people about _that_." Daniel hissed, cheeks flushing red.

"Who's Ginger?" the Doctor also asked, looking between them.

"He said he wouldn't tell anyone! Oh I'm gonna kill him!"

Liz laughed. "Don't you worry; he only told his brother and Katie."

"Liz 10?" the Doctor's eyes widened, finally working out who she was.

A Smiler rose from a booth in the corridor while another appeared behind them.

"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X," she smiled. "And down!" she turned and fired both pistols at the Smilers once they all ducked down. "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule."

Liz took them down another corridor, the Doctor fell back to walk beside Daniel. "Ginger?" He smirked at Daniel, having worked out who Ginger was.

"Shut up." Daniel glared at him.

"But seriously, _Ginger_."

"Seriously, _shut up_."

"There's a high speed Vator through there," Liz informed them as the Doctor's attention was pulled from Daniel as he looked at two of the tentacle like creatures Daniel had seen earlier. "Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?"

"I saw those up top," Daniel said, looking at the cage. "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root."

"Exactly like a root. It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What?" Liz frowned. "Like an infestation?"

"Someone's helping it," Daniel realised. "Feeding it."

"Feeding _my_ subjects to it. Come on. We've got to keep moving." Liz stormed off in anger, Mandy following.

"Doctor?" Amy turned to look at the Time Lord.

"Oh, Amy," the Doctor looked at the creature in sympathy as it banged against the bars. "We never should have come here."

Daniel's eyes widened as he remembered the video message, he took the Doctor by the hand and pulled him to a stop while Amy followed Liz. "Then let's leave." Daniel suggested.

"What? Why?" when Daniel struggled to answer, frowned. "Daniel, what aren't you tell me?"

"I'm can't tell you," he whispered. "But please, _trust_ me."

There were tears in his eyes as he waited for the Doctor to answer, to say sure and they'd take Amy and run back to the TARDIS to leave the mystery of Starship UK behind them… but the Doctor slipped his hand out of Daniel's and walked off in the direction the others had. Daniel took a moment to compose himself, wiping his eyes as looked at the tentacles.

~DW~

The Doctor walked carefully through the maze of glasses on the floor of Liz 10's room, Daniel was leaning against the bedpost of Liz's bed turning the mask in his hand.

"Why all the glasses?" the Doctor asked.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something," Liz said from her bed. "And it's my duty to find out what."

"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?" Daniel turned to look at Liz. "Sounds a bit like a novel."

"Secrets are being kept from me," she shrugged. "I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this, my entire _reign_ , and you all have achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" the Doctor paced.

"40. Why?"

"What, you're 50 now?" Amy gasped from where she was sat on the chaise at the foot of the bed, putting her hair up. "No way!"

"Yeah, they slowed my body clock," she winked down at Amy. "Keeps me looking like the stamps."

The Doctor sat on the bed, taking the mask from Daniel. "And you always wear this in public?"

"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting."

"Air balanced porcelain," the Doctor turned the mask in his hands, holding it up to her face. "Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

"Yeah. So what?"

"Oh, Liz. So everything."

The door opened and four men dressed in black robes, similar to the ones Daniel had seen before he had been knocked out, entered.

"What are you doing?" Liz demanded, outraged as she got off the bed and strode up to them. "How dare you come in here?"

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK," one of the hooded men informed her. "You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?" they watched as the hooded man's head spun to show the face of an angry Smiler. "How can they be Smilers?"

"Half Smiler, half human." The Doctor explained.

"What ever you creatures are, I am still your Queen. On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority, Ma'am." The Smiler nodded.

"I AM the highest authority."

"Yes, Ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am."

"Where?"

"The Tower, Ma'am."

~DW~

The small group was escorted into a large stone room containing high-tech machines dotted around the room, a well with something pink inside it and a large needle like object above it sending what looked to be electric bolts at it.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, looking around.

"The lowest point of Starship UK," the Doctor put his arms out, spinning on the spot. "The dungeon."

"Ma'am." A grey haired man with glasses greeted them.

"Hawthorne!" Liz narrowed her eyes at him. "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

"There's children down here," Daniel frowned at the man, having spotted a line of children stood by a wall. "What the hell are you doing to them?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," his eyes widened at the implication. "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Yeah, look at us," the Doctor scoffed. "Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?" he looked up at the needle. "Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."

He took Liz's hand and took her over to the well, looking down at the pink object inside. "What's that?" Liz asked.

"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly…"

"Or?"

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator… Starship UK's go faster button."

"I don't understand." She frowned.

"Don't you? Try, go on," when Liz shook her head, he explained. "The starship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature… this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading, it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day _after_ day, just to keep it moving," a electric bolt shot down from the needle and at the creature's exposed brain. "Tell you what," he moved to another well and lifted the grating. "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing," one of the tentacle shot up. "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear."

He aimed the sonic at the tentacle as the room filled with the screams of the creature.

"Stop it," Liz begged, the Doctor stopped as she turned to Hawthorne. "Who did this?"

"We act on instructions from the highest authority." He answered.

"I _am_ the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now!" no one moved. "Is anyone listening to me?"

The Doctor looked down at the mask he was still holding. "Liz. Your mask."

"What about my mask?"

He tossed the mask to her. "Look at it, it's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."

"Yeah, it's an antique, so?"

Amy and Mandy looked between the Doctor and Liz in confusion but Daniel began to piece things together. "But if it was made 200 years ago how can it be sculpted to _your_ face Liz?" Daniel walked to Liz, offering a sad smile. "You said they slowed your body clock, yes, but your not 50 you're…"

"Almost 300," the Doctor finished. "And it's been a long old reign."

Liz looked between the Doctor, who made his way to join Liz and Daniel, and Daniel. "Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years."

"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again," the Doctor took her by the hand and guided her to a voting area. "Always leading you here." The group looked at the buttons instead labelled forget and abdicate.

Liz turned to look at Hawthorne, angry. "What have you done?"

"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am," He gestured to himself and then to the Smilers. "The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." Hawthorne turned on the screen.

On the screen was Liz 10, tears in her eyes, similar to the video Daniel had seen of himself. "If you are watching this… if _I_ am watching this, then I have found myself to the Tower Of London," the real Liz sat before the screen. "The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers though the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, it the last of its kind," Tears began to fill Daniel's eyes as he listened to how she described the creature, able to compare it to the Doctor. "And what we have done to it breaks my heart, the Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you _must_ press the 'forget' button," Liz looked down at it as it flashed. "Be again the heart of the nation, untainted. If not, press the other button," She looked at the other as it flashed. "Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

"You voted for this?" Amy breathed, looking at Daniel with horror as tears filled her eyes. "How could you do that?"

She wasn't blaming him, she couldn't because she would have done the _same_ thing had it been her.

The Doctor just looked at Daniel with an unreadable look on his face, while the man in question wiped his eyes, now knowing what had been shown to him. "Because I knew if we stayed here, he'd be faced with an impossible choice," Daniel sighed. "The human race or the alien."

"And you took it upon yourself to save me from that," the Doctor cut in, surprising Amy with how hurt the Doctor sounded. "And then you tried to stop me, get me to run away! And that was wrong, you don't _ever_ decide what I need to know and then _stop_ me."

"And what?" Daniel stepped forward, his eyes narrowing. "What was I suppose to do? I don't even remember bloody doing it."

"You did it. That's what counts."

"So what? In the nine months of travelling with you, this is when you decide to tell me what I can and can't do?"

"Yes!"

"Believe it or not, Doctor, I am only _human_ I am allowed to make mistakes!"

"This is more then a mistake, Daniel!" the Doctor almost shouted. "You betrayed my trust!"

"How could I betray your trust when I don't even _remember_ doing it?!"

The next words surprised them all. "I don't care. When I'm done here, you're _both_ going home!"

Daniel's jaw dropped while Amy gasped, her eyes filling with tears once again.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked, stunned, as she looked to the Doctor as he made his way over to a panel by the well.

"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain," he confessed, Daniel looked at him with wide eyes. "Should know out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

"That'll be like killing it." Daniel spoke up, emotion thick in his voice.

The Doctor didn't even look at him. Knowing that if he dared look over at him, then he'd _never_ be able to go through with his plan. He hadn't meant it, telling Daniel that he was going to leave him back on Earth and he wished he could take it back… but it was too late. He had seen the look in Daniel's eyes, some of which he hadn't even seen but the one that stood out to him was _hurt_. "Look, three options. One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can," the Doctor listed, he could feel the emotion begin to rise and it was anger. "And then I find a new name, cos I won't be the Doctor any more."

Liz shook her head. "There must be something we can do, some other way."

He glared at the woman. "Nobody talk to me. Nobody _human_ has anything to say to me today!" He spat at them, no one noticing that Daniel had stormed up to him.

Amy, Liz and Mandy looked down and the room was silent but the sound of boots squeaking on the floor made them look up. The Doctor had been shoved back, Daniel stood before him with his arms before him. "Don't you _dare_ yell at Liz for having to make that decision! Don't you dare make her feel guilty for choosing her _people_ over the life of _one_ creature and don't you _dare_ push us aside!" The Doctor reached out for him, shock on his face. "No! You listen here, Doctor! I made that decision to push the forget button, _I_ pushed it, not Amy! SO don't you dare send Amy home for my mistake! Send me home!" Daniel cleared his throat, wiping his eyes. "I have watched you offer peaceful alternatives to some of your most _deadly_ villains and if you can't even allow the people to make the decision… then you really _aren't_ the Doctor."

And with that, Daniel walked to the corner of the room, sliding down the wall as he allowed himself to cry… crying for the Star Whale, crying for Amy and most of all crying for the Doctor.

~DW~

Amy and Mandy sat on either side of Daniel, who was just watching the Doctor work. Amy was leaning against his arm while Mandy tried to look anywhere but the Doctor.

Daniel couldn't think straight, every time he thought about something it went back to the Doctor and him leaving. He hoped that the Doctor didn't leave Amy behind for his mistake, he couldn't imagine the Doctor travelling by himself without something terrible happening to him.

"Timmy!" Mandy shouted, Daniel opened his eyes to watch as the girl ran over to him. "You made it, you're okay!" Timmy said nothing. "It's me, Mandy."

They stood before one of the feelers and Mandy has her back to it. Daniel and Amy's eyes widened as the feeler reached for Mandy, assuming the worse, as they quickly got up off the floor. Before either of them moved, they watched as instead of hurting her, it gently tapped Mandy on the back and let her pet it.

Amy's eyes widened as she began to understand, much quicker then Daniel was, as she quickly made her way over to the Doctor. "Doctor, stop, whatever you're doing, stop it now!" When the Doctor made no move to stop, she grabbed Liz. "Sorry, You Majesty, going to need a hand."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he watched them move to the buttons. "Amy, no! No!" He rushed over to them but could only watch as Amy forced Liz's hand down on the abdicate button. The whale bellowed and the whole ship shook, causing havoc in the room. "Amy, what have you done?"

"Nothing at all, am I right?" Amy looked over to Hawthorne.

"We've INCREASED speed." Hawthorne informed them, reading off a monitor.

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help." She smiled at them all.

"It's still here?" Liz was surprised. "I don't understand."

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago," Amy explained. "It _volunteered_. You didn't have to trap it or torture it… that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry," she glanced over at the Doctor. "What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind..." she gave him a small smile, "You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

~DW~

The Doctor stood alone as he looked out of the Starship. "From her majesty," Amy said as she joined him, holding out the Liz's mask. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."

"Amy, you could have killed everyone on this ship." He reminded her.

"You could have killed a Star Whale."

"And you saved it," he faced her. "I know, I know."

"Amazing, though, don't you think?" she turned to look out. "The Star Whale. All that pain and misery… and loneliness," she looked at the Doctor. "And it just made it kind."

"But you couldn't have known how it would react."

"YOU couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" they hugged. "Hey."

"What?"

"Gotcha." He laughed but Amy wasn't finished. "You know you shouldn't have yelled at Daniel like that."

He sighed. "I know, Amy, I know," he pulled away from the hug. "But what I said… I can't take it back."

Amy frowned. "But you can," upon his questioning look, she explained herself. "Every time Rory and I had big fights, and I mean _big_ fights, I thought it would be the end for us but then he'd show up with a box of chocolates and a big bouquet of flowers and he'd say sorry, even if he hadn't started the fight, and I said sorry and it took some time but we worked it out," she smiled at him. "Sometimes all it can take is a sorry, even if you thought he was in the wrong."

"I don't know, would it be enough?"

"Nine months of being together and you still can't see it?" she laughed. "My god, you really are an alien."

"What do you mean?" Amy just walked off. "Amy!"

~DW~

Amy had still not told him what she meant, frustrating the Doctor slightly. But they walked together back to the TARDIS, still parked in the market place. "Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy asked. "Won't they wonder where we went?"

"For the rest of their lives," the Doctor nodded. "Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow."

"Sorry, what?"

"It's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones." He pushed on the doors, having already been opened by Daniel.

"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning… have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just… just because you could?"

"Once… a long time ago."

"What happened?"

He waved. "Hello!"

They stepped into the TARDIS, the smiles on their faces fading once they saw Daniel walk into the console room holding a bag. Amy mumbled a good luck to the Doctor and quickly made her way out of the room, not sure where she was going but knowing she needed to give them a moment alone.

"Daniel…" the Doctor stepped to Daniel, ready to apologise like Amy had suggested.

"I've packed all my stuff," Daniel instead cut in. "You could give my room to Amy."

"Daniel…" he tried again.

"I haven't phoned Sarah Jane yet, but I can if you drop me off there but otherwise you can drop me off at my flat, you remember which that is…"

"Daniel!" the Doctor almost shouted, Daniel paused as he looked to at him. "I'm sorry."

"You're what?" Daniel frowned.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

The Doctor now frowned. "What do you mean what for? I yelled at you in front of Amy, I yelled at you for thinking you could betray my trust and I told you that I was going to leave you behind."

Daniel just stood there, staring at the Doctor with an unrecognisable look on his face. "I'm the one who should be sorry, I kept something from you, I yelled back _at_ you and I shoved you away," he stepped towards the Doctor. "I wasn't thinking straight."

"You were doing what you thought was best for me."

"But that didn't give me the right to say what I said," Daniel set his bag on the floor and placed a hand on the Doctor's arm. "For saying that you weren't the Doctor anymore, it was uncalled for."

"I'll try not to hold it against you," Daniel smacked his arm gently, the Doctor laughing and quickly took Daniel's hand. "Listen, I wanted to talk about something and I want you to know that you can stop me at any point, okay," Daniel nodded, confused. "Back in the mansion, after the Time Lords were defeated and I thought we had won… we, um…" he trailed off.

Daniel blinked in surprise, cheeks turning slightly red, as he thought back to the kiss they had almost shared. What was the Doctor going to say? What was _he_ going to say? Had it meant something to the Doctor or had it been a heat of the moment sort of thing, like the things he'd seen in movies and TV shows when heroes shared a kiss because they thought they had won. He hadn't had a chance to think about it back in Leadworth, he'd been too focused on Prisoner Zero.

But with Mandy calling the Doctor his boyfriend, he had been reminded of the kiss they had almost shared. He had been surprised to think back to it, it's like he had tried to forget it, but as he thought back to it he felt… sad that he hadn't kissed the Doctor. Sure the man who stood before him _was_ the Doctor, but it wasn't the same Doctor he had fallen for… or was it?

"Yeah," Daniel mumbled, looking away. "You don't have to explain yourself."

"But I want to… I need to…" the Doctor cut in lightly. "Because I don't want you to think that it had been a mistake, because it _wasn't_ ," Daniel's eyes widened. "I wasted four months trying to push away my thoughts, my _feelings_ and I don't think I can waste another minute…"

With the console room empty and without anyone to stop him, the Doctor began to lean in as Daniel closed his eyes as he prepared for the Doctor to close the gap…

… when a phone began to ring and the Doctor groaned inwardly, stepping away from Daniel. Amy appeared at the top of the stairs, now changed into a black leather jacket, red top, grey skirt and brown boots. "Is that a phone?" She asked them, unaware of the almost kiss. "People phone you?"

The Doctor turned to Amy, trying to keep the annoyed look off his face. "Well, it's a phone box. Would you mind."

He turned, ready to apologise to Daniel, but found him hurrying around the console. "Hello?" Amy answered the phone. "Sorry, who? No, seriously. Who?" she muffled the phone against her shoulder. "Says he's the Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"

"Which Prime Minister?" he pulled a lever.

"Er, which Prime Minister?" she put the phone against her shoulder again. "The British one."

"Which British one?" Daniel asked her.

Amy picked up the phone once more. "Which British one?" her eyes widened as she passed the phone to the Doctor. "Winston Churchill for you."

"Churchie?" Daniel asked, surprised.

"Oh! Hello, dear. What's up?" the Doctor said, taking the phone.

"Tricky situation, Doctor," Churchill replied. "Potentially very dangerous. I think I'm going to need you."

"Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister. We're on our way."

He hung up and Daniel pulled a lever as the TARDIS dematerialised.

A/N: Oh what's this? Another almost kiss! One day they'll kiss, can't say when, but they'll kiss.

A note on reviews:

Oh yeah, every Monday this story will be updated, so nothing will change there. I've gotta say though that it's really creepy that you say that because I was going to have a talk between them in the Eleventh Hour but put it here… are you watching my screen lol. I can say that I have plans for Rory and Daniel so you can keep any eye out for a Jealous Doctor.

Up next is Victory of the Daleks. What happens when Daniel encounters the Daleks for the first time since the Earth was stolen? Will the Dalek know anything about him? Find out next week.


	3. Victory of the Daleks

Disclaimer: See _The Eleventh Hour_

Changes and Discoveries: Victory of the Daleks

~DW~

The TARDIS materialised in a storage room, the Doctor and Daniel stepping out, only to come face to face with a group of soldiers pointing guns at them. The Doctor pushed Daniel behind him as he eyed the soldiers. "Told you we should have done a scan." Daniel mumbled to the Doctor, who shook his head.

The soldiers parted as a familiar man stepped towards them.

"Amy…" the Doctor held out an arm to introduce the woman. "Winston Churchill."

Amy stepped out of the TARDIS and stared at the man with wide eyes, amazed to be able to meet the former Prime Minister she had learnt about in her history lessons.

Churchill eyed the Doctor, not believing it to be him, until he spotted Daniel stepping out behind him. "Doctor?" he gasped. "Is it you?"

"Oh, Winston, my old friend!" the Doctor went in for a hand shake but Churchill instead motioned with hand as if he wanted something. "Ah, every time!"

"What's he after?" Amy frowned.

"TARDIS key, of course," Daniel held out his hand and smiled to the man. "Hello, Churchie."

Churchill's eyes widened. "Daniel?" he gaped, shaking Daniel's hand. "My word you haven't aged a day my boy."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh so he gets a hand shake and I get _nothing_." He rolled his eyes.

"Oh hush." Daniel rolled his eyes.

"But think of what I could achieve with his remarkable machine, Daniel!" Churchill ignored the Doctor, having known Daniel was more the person to try and reason with. "The lives that could be saved!"

"But it doesn't work like that," Daniel clicked his fingers, closing the doors to the TARDIS. "You know that."

"Must I take it by force?"

"We'd like to see you try." The Doctor grinned, putting an arm around Daniel's shoulders.

Churchill only smiled and raised a hand. "At ease." The soldiers lowered their rifles.

"You rang?"

Churchill motioned with his hand and the trio followed him, Daniel and Amy falling back slightly as they followed.

"Everything alright between you two?" Amy asked.

Daniel nodded, looking at Amy. "Yeah, we're alright now," he looked at the Doctor's back, smiling at it. "We've got some more things to talk through, but we're alright now."

Amy frowned, confused, but shrugged happy that Daniel and the Doctor weren't fighting. She looked around the corridor they were walking through.

"So you've changed your face, again." Churchill commented.

"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done." The Doctor shrugged.

"Got it, got it, got it!" Amy suddenly called out, the Doctor and Churchill looking at her over their shoulders. "Cabinet War Rooms, right?"

"Yup. Top secret heart of the War Office," the Doctor nodded. "Right under London."

"You're late, by the way." Churchill remarked, surprising the Doctor.

"Requisitions, sir." A young woman handed Churchill a clipboard and pen.

"Excellent."

"Late?" the Doctor asked.

"I rang you a month ago." Churchill signed the paper.

"Really? Sorry, sorry, it's a Type-40 TARDIS," he missed Daniel rolling his eyes. "I'm just running her in."

"It's never the drivers fault is it?" Daniel mumbled to Amy, who smirked.

"Something the matter, Breen?" Churchill asked the woman, handing the clipboard back. "You look a little down in the dumps."

"No, sir," Breen hugged the clipboard to her chest. "Fine, sir."

"Action this day, Breen! Action this day!"

"Yes, sir." She nodded, looking over in Amy's direction before leaving.

"Excuse me, sir," another officer approached them. "Got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them."

"We shall go up top then, Group captain!" Churchill commanded. "We'll give 'em what for! Coming, Doctor?"

"Why?" the Doctor frowned.

"I have something to show you."

The Doctor turned to look at Daniel and Amy as he mouthed 'ooh', Amy giggled while Daniel just smiled.

~DW~

They stood in a lift of the War Rooms, Churchill starting the lift as he puffed on his cigar. The Doctor waved the smoke away while Daniel and Amy stood in the back.

"We stand at a crossroads, Doctor," Churchill began. "Quite alone with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace."

"Such as?" Daniel asked.

The lift stopped and Churchill opened the gate. "Follow me."

They stepped out onto a roof top that looked out over at London. There were sandbags on the roof as a man in a white lab coat stood, watching the sky with binoculars.

"Wow!" Amy breathed, looking at the barrage balloons in the distance, even seeing the German planes in the distance.

"Doctor, Daniel, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell, head of our Ironsides Projects." Churchill introduced them to the man.

The Doctor flashed him a 'V for Victory' sign, while Daniel gave him a small wave.

"How d'you do?" Bracewell, the man in the white coat, waved down at them before looking through the binoculars again.

"Oh Daniel… Doctor, it's…" Amy couldn't find the words.

"History." Daniel smiled at her.

"Ready, Bracewell?" Churchill called up to him.

"Aye aye, sir," Bracewell gave him a thumbs up. "On my order! Fire!"

From within the sandbagged area on the roof, laser beams were fired at the German planes and they're destroyed.

Daniel gasped at the familiar sound, the Doctor reaching out to take his hand.

"What was that?" Amy asked, looking between Daniel and the Doctor with a frown.

"That wasn't human, that was never human technology." The Doctor mumbled.

"That sounded like," Daniel shook his head, not wanting to believe it. "But that can't be possible!"

"Show me!" the Doctor quickly squeezed Daniel's hand before letting go, climbing up a ladder to stand by Bracewell. "Show me what that was!"

"Advance!" Bracewell called.

"Our new secret weapon!" Churchill grinned as a Dalek trundled out from behind the sandbags, pained in Army khaki with a utility belt around it, a small union flag under its eye stalk. Daniel pulled Amy behind him while the Doctor watched, horrified. "What do you think? Quiet something, eh?"

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor demanded.

"I am your soldier." It replied.

"What?" he frowned.

"I am your soldier."

"Stop this! Stop now! You know who I am, you _always_ know."

"Your identity is unknown."

"Perhaps I can clarify things here," Bracewell cut in. "This is one of my Ironsides."

"Your _what_?"

Bracewell turned to face the Dalek. "You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" he asked.

"Yes." The Dalek replied.

"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"

"Yes."

"And what is your ultimate aim?"

"To win the war!"

~DW~

Daniel and the Doctor stood at a table in Churchill's office, looking at diagrams and blueprints that clearly show a Dalek. "They're Daleks," Daniel frowned at Churchill. "They're called _Daleks_!"

Churchill shook his head. "They are Bracewell's Ironsides! Look! Blueprints, statistics, field-tests, photographs. He _invented_ them!"

"Invented them?" the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, no, no, no!"

"Yes! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius."

"A Scottish genius, too," Amy spoke up from the corner of the room in an attempt to lighten the mood. She was concerned, she had seen the fear on Daniel's face when the Dalek rolled out and she had defiantly seen the horror on the Doctor's face. "Maybe you should listen to…"

"Shh!" the Doctor stopped her. "He didn't invent them! They're alien."

"Alien?" Churchill frowned.

A Dalek glided by the open doorway and the Doctor tensed, sensing its presence, as he looked over his shoulder. "And totally hostile!" the Doctor pressed.

"Precisely!" Churchill grinned. "They will win me the war!" he turned over a blueprint to show them a propaganda poster with a large Dalek on it.

"Why won't you listen?" the Doctor frowned, following Churchill as he walked out the room. "Why call me in if you won't listen to me?!"

"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts. The Ironsides seemed too good to be true."

"Yes! Right! So destroy them! _Exterminate_ them!"

"But imagine what I could do with a hundred! A thousand!"

"I am imagining," another Dalek passed them, the Doctor reached out to pull Daniel away from it. "Amy, tell him."

"Tell him what?" She frowned.

"About the Daleks!"

"What would I know about the Daleks?"

"Everything." the Doctor frowned as he looked at Amy closely.

"They invaded Earth, remember?" Daniel frowned, recounting the event. "Planets in the sky, Dalek ships in the skies? You can't forget something like that!" when Amy shook her head, his jaw dropped. "Tell me you remember the Daleks."

"I can't, I'm sorry." She offered, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't remember anything like that happening.

"That's not possible." The Doctor shook his head.

They entered the Map Room, with men and women sat before radios and moving figures on the map when required.

"And 6… 2357, over!" the woman from earlier, Breen, reported from a radio. "2357, over!"

A Dalek glided past the doorway, Daniel couldn't help but watch it as it passed. He hadn't thought he'd see them again, the Doctor said they had been destroyed during the Meta Crisis and even the creator of the Dalek's had been destroyed… yet they were here. These Daleks weren't like the ones who had invaded the Earth, these Daleks hadn't attacked any human with a weapon nor anyone who even looked at them funny. It didn't sit well with him and he knew that the Doctor was thinking the worst case scenario, just by looking at the dark look in his eyes when he even looked at the Dalek shaped figures would be enough to anger him.

"So they're up to something." The Doctor kept his voice down as he spoke to Daniel, not risking the Daleks to overhear him.

"But what is it?" Daniel frowned, reaching out to take the Doctor's hand. "What are they after?"

"Well, let's just ask, shall we?" Amy said, overhearing them, as she walked over to the Dalek.

"Amy!" Daniel hissed, eyes wide.

"Amelia!" the Doctor also hissed, trying to reach out and grab her with his free hand.

Amy just tapped the Dalek on its head and it swiveled to look at her, "Can I be of assistance?"

"Oh," she smiled, "Yes. Yes! See, my friends reckon you're dangerous. That you're an alien. Is it true?"

"I am your soldier."

"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?"

"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform."

The Doctor shook his head, going over to Churchill and took the cigar from his mouth. "Winston, Winston, please."

"We are waging total war, Doctor!" Churchill reminded him with a hard look. "Day after day, the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist."

"Wait till the Daleks get stared."

"Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flames."

"Churchie," Daniel joined them, seeing the Doctor growing more frustrated. "The Daleks will do worse, I've seen what they are willing to do with my own eyes. They'd burn the Earth, never giving a damn about the innocent."

"I weep for my country, I weep for my empire," Churchill frowned at Daniel. "It is breaking my heart." He stepped around the table.

"But you're resisting, Winston!" the Doctor tried once again, both he and Daniel following. "The whole word knows you're resisting! You're a beacon on hope."

"But for how long?" Churchill signed some more papers. "Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now!"

"Millions of innocent lives will be _lost_ if you use the Daleks!" Daniel retorted.

"Can I be of assistance?" a Dalek asked as it glided over to them.

"Shut it!" the Doctor glared at the Dalek before turning to Churchill. "Daniel is right! The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them!"

"If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favourable reference to the Devil!" Churchill cried, "These machines are our salvation!" a siren sounded, "Oh, the all-clear. We are safe. For now."

And with that, he turned and left the room.

The Doctor and Daniel just stared as the Dalek turned and left as well.

"It's the all-clear," Amy walked over to them, "Are you ok?"

"What does hate look like, Amy?" the Doctor asked her.

"Hate?"

"It looks like a Dalek. And I'm going to prove it." the Doctor tossed a cap in his hand onto a table, before walking out of the room with Daniel.

~DW~

The Doctor, Daniel and Amy strode into Bracewell's lab, the Doctor began to check the equipment out while Amy and Daniel looked around, Daniel walking over to look at another design for the Daleks.

Although the base of this Dalek was similar to the Daleks he had seen in the past, this one lacked an eyestalk, the two lights on its dome and the two weapons, instead it had a large cannon like weapon and had a flat top. He'd hate to imagine the fire power that Dalek would be capable of.

"Alright, Prof!" the Doctor called. "The PM's been filling us in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them."

"Just doing my bit." Bracewell smiled.

"Not bad for a Paisley boy." Amy picked up a spanner as the Doctor dropped into a chair and looked at a file and Daniel lifted up the design to find other Dalek designs.

"Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear."

"How did you do it?" Daniel asked, setting down the designs. "Come up with the idea?"

"How does the muse of invention come to anyone?"

The Doctor tossed the file onto the desk behind them, "But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?"

"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Like...let me show you," he moved them over to another desk and pulled out more files, "Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight. Gravity bubbles that could sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere! Came to me in the bath!"

"And are these your ideas or theirs?" the Doctor asked him.

"No, no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control. They are..." a Dalek brought him tea, something that would have made Daniel laugh under any other circumstance. "Thank you...the perfect servant and the perfect warrior."

"I don't know what you're up to, Professor Bracewell," the Doctor began. "But whatever they've promised, you cannot trust them! Call them what you like, the Daleks are death!"

"Yes, Doctor," Churchill entered with a Dalek behind him. "Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!"

"Yes, Winston." Daniel crossed his arms. "And death to everything else too!"

"Would you care for some tea?" a Dalek trundled up to them.

"Stop this!" the Doctor smacked the tray from the plunger causing them to fall to the floor. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"We seek only to help you."

"To do what?"

"To win the war."

"Really? _Which_ war?"

"I do not understand."

"This war, against the Nazis? Or _your_ war? The war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life forms that are not Dalek?"

"I do not understand. I am your soldier."

"Oh, yeah?" the Doctor scoffed. "Ok." he turned around and picked up a giant spanner, "Ok, soldier, defend yourself!" and then he smashed it against the Dalek.

"Doctor, what the devil..." Bracewell moved forward to try and stop him but the Daniel stepped in front of him with his arms crossed, he just hoping the Time Lord knew what he was doing.

"You do not require tea?" the Dalek asked, but the Doctor just kept striking it.

"Stop it!" Bracewell shouted. "Prime Minister, please!"

"Doctor, please, these machines are precious," Churchill tried.

"Come on!" the Doctor egged the creature on, "Fight back! You want to, don't you? You know you do!"

"I must protest!" Bracewell tried once more.

"What are you waiting for?" the Doctor glared, "You hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on! Kill me. Kill me!" he struck it again.

Daniel's eyes widened, letting go of Bracewell as he ran to the Doctor. "Doctor! That's enough." Daniel tried to stop him, fearful that the Dalek might follow through with the threat.

"Please desist from striking me," the Dalek requested, "I am your soldier."

"You are my enemy!" the Doctor hit it again, "And I am yours! You are everything I despise! The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you all back into the Void! I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor! And you are the Daleks!" he kicked the Dalek and it went rolling back.

"Correct." the Dalek swivelled back to him. "Review testimony."

"I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!" a recording of the Doctor played.

"Testimony?" the Doctor frowned, Daniel stepping back into to his chest as he tried to figure out what the Dalek had suggested. "What are you talking about, 'testimony?'"

"Transmitting testimony now." the second Dalek wheeled over to the first.

"Transmit what, where?" the Doctor demanded.

"Testimony accepted!"

"Get back!" Daniel shouted, eyes wide as he looked between the two Daleks. "All of you!"

"Marines! Marines!" Churchill called. "Get in here!"

Two Marines entered the room, the Doctor turned Daniel's head away from the scene as the Dalek opened fire on them.

"Stop it!" Bracewell pleaded. "Stop it, please! What are you doing? You are my Ironsides!"

"We are the Daleks!" the first Dalek shouted.

"But I created you!"

"No." it shot Bracewell's hand, revealing a stump of wire and circuitry. " _We_ created _you_!"

"Victory!" the Daleks cheered, "Victory! Victory!"

They could only watch as the Daleks teleported away.

"What just happened?" Amy breathed, scared as she tried to look anywhere except at the two dead Marines.

"I wanted to know what they wanted, what their plan was." the Doctor muttered to Daniel, who looked up at him with a scared look on his face. "I was their plan!"

He let go of Daniel and ran out the room.

"Hey!" Amy called after him, chasing him with Daniel in tow into the storage room where the TARDIS was parked.

"'Testimony accepted!'" the Doctor muttered, "That's what they said! My testimony."

"Don't beat yourself up. You were right," Amy paused, watching the Doctor unlock the TARDIS, "What do we do? Is this what we do now? Chase after them?"

"This is what _I_ do," the Doctor corrected her, "It's dangerous, so wait here."

"I am not letting you go by yourself." Daniel stepped forward, narrowing his eyes.

"Daniel, please, I can't risk losing you or Amy," the Doctor reached out to take his hands, squeezing them. "Just stay here, I promise I'll come back."

"You better," Daniel whispered, smiling slightly. "Otherwise, I won't be able to do this again."

He leant to the Doctor and quickly pecked him on the lips. Although it was quick, it didn't stop the Doctor grinning at Daniel dopily. With a nod, the Doctor entered the TARDIS.

"What, so he means we've got to stay safe down here in the middle of the London Blitz?" Amy asked Daniel as Churchill ran up.

"Safe as it gets around him," Daniel nodded, watching the TARDIS disappear before them.

"What does he expect us to do now?"

"KBO, of course." Churchill suggested.

"What?" Amy frowned.

"Keep buggering on!"

~DW~

Despite the impending danger that lurked on the Dalek ship, the Doctor found himself grinning widely to himself as he thought back to the kiss.

He shook his head, knowing now he had something to lose if he let the Daleks escape.

~DW~

Breen quickly entered the storage room, holding a folded piece of paper. "Prime Minister."

"Yes?" Churchill turned to her.

"Signal from RDF, sir. Unidentified object," she informed him, handing him the paper. "Hanging in the sky, Captain Childers says. We can't get a proper fix, though. It's too far up."

"What do you think, Mister Young," Churchill turned to Daniel. "The Doctor's in trouble and now we knew where he is."

"Yep, he'll be on that ship, right in the middle of everything." Daniel smiled.

"Exactly!"

~DW~

The TARDIS materialised in a room just off the side of the main chamber of the Dalek saucer, he could see three Daleks stood before a chamber as he stepped out. The Daleks swivelled their heads as he stepped in, rubbing his hands.

"How about that cuppa now, then?" the Doctor grinned.

"It is the Doctor!" one of the Daleks cried. "Exterminate!"

"Wait, wait, wait! I wouldn't if I were you!" the Doctor called, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small round yellow object with a red middle and held it out before him. "TARDIS self-destruct. And you know what that means. My ship goes, you all go with it."

"You would not use such a device." Another Dalek stated.

"Try me," he threatened as the first Dalek moved forward. "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. No scans! No nothing! One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? TARDIS bang-bang, Daleks boom!" the Dalek moved back. "Good boy," he looked at the Daleks' instrument panels, frowning slightly. "This ship's pretty beaten up, running on empty, I'd say, like you. When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished."

"One ship survived."

"And you fell back through time, yes? Crippled? _Dying_?"

"We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices."

"Progenitor? What's that when it's at home?"

"It is our past. And our future."

"Oh, that's deep. That is deep for a Dalek. What does it mean, though?"

"It contains pure Dalek DNA," the final Dalek reported. "Thousands were created, all were lost, save one."

"Ok, but there's still one thing I don't get, though," the Doctor frowned. "If you've got the Progenitor, why build Bracewell?"

"It was… necessary." The second Dalek replied.

"But why?" he frowned before grinning. "Oh I get it. Oh, I get it! I get it. Oh ho, this is rich! The Progenitor wouldn't recognize you, it saw you as impure, the DNA is unrecognizable as Dalek."

"A solution was devised." the Dalek stated.

"Yes, yes, yes," the Doctor nodded, "Me. My testimony. So you set a trap, you knew that the Progenitor would recognize me. The Daleks' greatest enemy! It would accept my word. My recognition of you," the Dalek turned to the instrument panel behind it, "No, no, no. What are you doing?" he held out the button again.

"Withdraw now or the city dies in flames," the third Dalek threatened.

"Who are you kidding?" he scoffed. "This ship is a wreck, you don't have enough power to destroy London."

"Watch as the humans destroy themselves." The second Dalek stated.

~DW~

Daniel frowned as he watched one of the officers try to turn of the lights in the Map Room. "The generators won't switch off!" the officer informed them. "The lights are on all across London, Prime Minister!"

"Has to be them," Amy suggested. "Has to be the Daleks."

"The Germans can see every inch of the city," Churchill gasped, eyes wide. "We're sitting ducks. Get those lights out before the Germans get here!"

"Confirm, Squadron 244 and 56 mobilised." A woman reported into a headset.

"Emergency, emergency, 109? 109, confirm?" Breen asked into a headset.

"Thousands will die if we don't get those lights out now." Churchill muttered.

"German bombers sighted over the Channel, sir," Breen reported. "ETA 10 minutes, sir."

"Here they come. Get a message to Mr Attlee. War Cabinet meeting at 0300… if we're all still here."

"We can't just sit here!" Amy exclaimed, looking between Daniel and Churchill. "We've got to take the fight to the Daleks!"

"How? None of our weapons are a match for theirs."

Daniel gasped, suddenly thinking of something. "Oh my god, we have something!" they stared at him, confused. "Staring us in the face! A gift from the Daleks themselves."

And with that, Daniel ran out of the room with Amy and Churchill following.

~DW~

"Turn those lights off now!" the Doctor demanded, eyes wide as he looked at a report on the Dalek monitor. "Turn London off or I swear I will use the TARDIS self-destruct!"

"Stalemate, Doctor," the second Dalek looked at him. "Leave us and return to Earth."

"Oh, that's it? That's your great victory? You leave?"

"Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again."

"No, no, no! I won't let you get away this time! I won't!"

There was a whoosh and then a thrumming.

"We have succeeded, DNA reconstruction is complete." the third Dalek reported.

The Daleks glided back from the gate, now enveloped in a red light. The doors slid open.

"Observe, Doctor, a new Dalek paradigm!" the second Dalek cheered. He watched in horror as new, larger Daleks rolled out, each in a different colour, red, orange, yellow, blue and white, "The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks! The resurrection of the master race!"

~DW~

Daniel rushed into Bracewell's lab, eyes wide as he saw Bracewell putting a revolver to his head. "Bracewell!" Churchill exclaimed. "Put the gun down!"

"My life is a lie, and I choose to end it." Bracewell reasoned.

"In your own time, Paisley boy," Amy said, stepping up to his side. "Because right now we need your help."

"But those creatures… my Ironsides… they made me? I… I can remember things, so many things. The last war, the squalor and the mud and the awful, awful misery of it all. What am I? What am _I_?"

"What you are, sir, is either on our side or theirs," Churchill reminded. "Now I don't give a damn if you are a machine, Bracewell… are you a man?"

"Listen to me," Daniel cut in gently. "I understand. Really I do," he gently took the gun from Bracewell's hand. "Look, there is a spaceship up there lighting up London like a Christmas tree. Thousands of people will die tonight if we don't stop it, and you're the only one who can help take it down."

"I am?"

"You're alien technology. You're as clever as the Daleks are and you've got so many ideas all around you. So let's put our heads together and try and think of something," Daniel stepped away, looking at the files he had shown them earlier. "Hypersonic flight, we could use that, gravity bubble? What about that?"

"While this is all well and good, Mister Young, we need proper tactics not some suggestions." Churchill scoffed.

"The TARDIS has an oxygen bubble, maybe it works in the same way," Daniel picked up the gravity bubble file, handing it to Bracewell. "You could send someone up there, couldn't you?"

"With the gravity bubble, yes," he opened the file, allowing Churchill to see the plans. "Theoretically it's possible we could actually send something into space."

"Bracewell… it's time to think big!" Churchill grinned, an idea coming to him.

~DW~

"All hail the new Daleks!" the first Dalek said, "All hail the new Daleks!"

"Yes, you are inferior!" the White Dalek replied in a much deeper, more sinister voice.

"Yes."

"Then prepare."

"We are ready!" the three Daleks stated.

"Cleanse the unclean! Total obliteration! Disintegrate!"

The Blue Dalek fired at the first and third Dalek while the red one took care of the middle Dalek.

"Blimey, what do you do to the ones who mess up?" the Doctor breathed.

"You are the Doctor!" the White Dalek turned to him. "You must be exterminated!"

The Doctor held up the button, "Don't mess with me, sweetheart!"

~DW~

Breen and others on their radio headsets, manoeuvring representations of flying squadrons. Dust falls from the ceiling as the city above them is bombed.

"We can't lose, can we?" Amy asked Daniel quietly, the duo stood in the corner of the room. "I know we win the war, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"Time is always changing," Daniel replied, crossing his arms as more dust fell. "In one instant it would be Britain winning the war and then the next instance you'd be speaking German fluently and learning history lessons on how _Germany_ won the war."

Amy's eyes widened, having never considered the possibility of England losing the war.

"Advancing bombers approaching in strike formation," a voice informed them through a tannoy. "Incendiary bombs have hit the East End of London."

Bracewell, his arm in a sling, entered with a device on a wheeled office chair. He also wore a homemade headset. "At last!" Churchill cried. "Are they ready?"

"I hope so," he nodded. "But in the meantime…" he placed the device on the desk, it had a screen with control knobs. "This will pick up Dalek transmissions." He slapped the side of it and the Doctor and the White Dalek appeared on the small black and white screen.

"We are the paradigm of a new Dalek race." The White Dalek stated.

"It's him!" Amy cheered, Daniel let out a sigh of relief. "It's the Doctor!"

"Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal, and the Supreme."

"Which would be you, I'm guessing?" the Doctor eyed the White Dalek. "Well, you know, nice paint job. I'd be feeling pretty swish if I looked like you. Pretty Supreme."

"He's got company," Daniel frowned, looking at the new form of Daleks that stood before the Doctor. "New company. We've got to hurry up!"

A phone rang and Bracewell answered it. "Yes? Right. Right, thanks!" he hung up. "Ready when you are, Prime Minister."

"Splendid!" Churchill cheered.

"Spaceship's exact coordinates located!"

"Go to it, Group captain! Go to it!"

"Broadsword to Danny Boy!" the captain called to the team. "Broadsword to Danny Boy! Scramble! Scramble! Scramble!"

~DW~

"Question is, what do we do now?" the Doctor continued. "Either you turn off your clever machine or I'll blow you and your new paradigm into eternity."

"And yourself." The White Dalek stated.

"Occupational hazard."

"Scan reveals nothing!" the Blue Dalek reported. "TARDIS self-destruct device non-existent!"

"Alright," the Doctor took a bite into the device, revealing it to be a biscuit. "It's a Jammy Dodger, but I was promised tea!"

A siren sounded and the Blue Dalek went to the scanner. "Alert! Unidentified projectile approaching!" the Doctor looked at a second scanner. "Correction. Multiple projectiles!"

"What have the humans done?" the White Dalek asked the Doctor.

"I don't know." The Doctor frowned, unsure himself.

"Explain! Explain! Explain!"

"Danny Boy to the Doctor!" a voice came through the comm. system. "Danny Boy to the Doctor! Are you receiving me? Over."

He looked over at a monitor, grinning as he saw a squadron of RAF fighter planes flying at them.

"Oh, Winston! You beauty!"

"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Come in. Over."

"Loud and clear, Danny Boy!" the Doctor called. "Big dish, side of the ship, blow it up! Over!"

"Exterminate the Doctor!" the White Dalek commanded.

They opened fire on the Doctor, but he escaped into the TARDIS.

~DW~

"You heard him, Group captain!" Churchill called. "Target that dish! Send in all we've got!"

Daniel and Amy watched the action on the screen. "4-4 to Danny Boy, target the dish and stop that signal." The captain instructed.

"Over. Understood, sir. Over." The pilot replied. "You can count on us! Over."

"Oh, good luck, lads!" a woman called.

Everyone gathered around the screen as they listened into the action. "We've lost Jubilee, sir! Over." A pilot reported.

"Beam still active, sir." The captain added.

"Then send them in again!" Churchill demanded.

~DW~

The Doctor stood in the TARDIS, watching the action on the minitor. "Danny Boy to the Doctor… only me left," the pilot informed him. "Anything you can do, sir? Over."

The Doctor picked up a small microphone and spoke into it. "The Doctor to Danny Boy… the Doctor to Danny Boy. I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over."

"Good show, Doctor, go to it. Over."

The Doctor started the TARDIS, running around the controls frantically.

~DW~

"Direct hit, sir!" the captain informed them.

Everyone cheered, Amy and Daniel hugging each other and laughed.

~DW~

The Doctor cheered as he watched the dish was destroyed on the monitor.

"Danny Boy to the Doctor… going in for another attack."

"The Doctor to Danny Boy," the Doctor grinned. "The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship! Over."

"What about you, Doctor?"

"I'll be ok."

"Doctor!" the White Dalek appeared on the monitor. "Call of your attack!"

"Ah ha, what?" the Doctor scoffed, "And let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end!"

"Call off the attack or we will destroy the Earth."

"We're not stupid, mate! You've just played your last card!"

"Bracewell is a bomb."

The Doctor hesitated. "You're bluffing. Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body. There isn't a bone in your body!"0

"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum! Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android."

"No! This is my best chance ever! The last of the Daleks! I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all!"

"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below! The Earth will die screaming!"

"And if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks."

"Then choose, Doctor! Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum! Choose, Doctor! Choose! Choose!"

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't allow the Daleks to escape, allow them to grow in strength and maybe numbers… but he couldn't allow the Earth to be destroyed. He couldn't allow Amy to be killed and he must certainly wouldn't allow Daniel to be killed because he wanted to end the Daleks.

"The Doctor to Danny Boy," he picked up the microphone, his voice flat. "The Doctor to Danny Boy. Withdraw."

Say again, sir," the pilot called, "Over."

"Withdraw," the Doctor repeated. "Return to Earth. Over and out."

"But sir…"

"There's no time," he cut in, "You have to return to Earth now! Over!"

He turned to the controls, getting to work as he piloted the TARDIS back to Earth.

~DW~

The TARDIS materialised in the storage room and the Doctor ran out of the room and ran into the map room, punching Bracewell. The man was knocked to the ground and the Doctor shook his hand in pain.

"Doctor!" Daniel cried, eyes wide in surprise.

"Ow!" the Doctor winced. "Sorry, Professor. You're a bomb! An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb."

"What?" Bracewell breathed.

"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you," the Doctor told him. "A captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension," the Doctor knelt to the left of the man and pulled out the sonic, ripping open Bracewell's shirt, "Now keep down!" he flashed the sonic over it and his chest opened to reveal the metal skin underneath. There was a circular pad in five sections, glowing blue, in the center of Bracewell's chest.

One section started to turn yellow.

"Well?" Amy asked, looking at the Doctor.

"I dunno, I dunno, I dunno!" he shook the sonic, "Never seen one up close before!"

"There's...a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire," the Doctor stood up, "Or a red one."

"You're not helping!"

"It's incredible," Churchill breathed, "He talked to us about his memories. The Great War..."

The Doctor tossed the sonic between his hands, trying to think. "Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain," he informed him. "Tell me about it. Bracewell! Tell me about your life!" he knelt back down.

"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time!" Bracewell exclaimed.

"Tell us and prove you're human. Tell us everything."

Another section of Bracewell's chest was turning yellow while the first had turned red.

"My family ran the post office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but...but there was a storm."

"And your parents?" the Doctor hurried him, "Come on! Tell us!"

"Good people. Kind people. They...they died. Scarlet fever."

"What was that like? How did it feel?"

"Please..."

"How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell us! Tell us now!"

"It hurt. It hurts, Doctor, so badly. Like a wound…"

The second section was red, the third turning yellow.

"It was worse than a wound," Bracewell continued, "Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing."

"Good. Remember it now, Edwin! The ash trees by the post office and your mum and dad and losing them and men in the trenches you saw die...remember it! Feel it, because you're human."

The third section turned red.

"You're not like them. You are _not_ like the Daleks!"

"It hurts!" he moaned, "It hurts so much!"

"Good!" the Doctor nodded, "Good! Good! Brilliant! Embrace it…"

The fourth section turned red.

"That means you're alive!" the Doctor grew frantic. "They cannot explode that bomb, you're a human being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb! Believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell! And you, my friend, are a human being!"

The fifth section began to turn yellow.

The Doctor looked at Daniel, fearful of what could happen. "It's not working, I can't stop it!"

Daniel knelt down beside Bracewell. "Hey… Paisley," he smiled softly at the man. "Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"

"W… what?" he frowned.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

The last section remained yellow.

"But kind of a good hurt."

"I really shouldn't talk about her."

"Oh," Amy knelt down beside him, smiling. "There's a her."

The last section reverted to blue.

"What was her name?" the Doctor asked, relieved to see the colours changing.

"Dorabella." Bracewell breathed, smiling at the memory.

"Dorabella?" Daniel repeated. "It's a lovely name, it's a _beautiful_ name."

"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asked.

"Oh, such a smile," he sighed, eyes glazing over as he remembered everything about her. "And her eyes… her eyes were so blue...almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world..."

They watched as the sections slowly changed colours to blue, the Doctor slumping forward in relief.

"Dorabella…"

And finally the last section turned blue.

"Welcome to the human race," the Doctor grinned, smiling at his companions before turning to look at Churchill. "You're brilliant," he turned to look at Bracewell. "You're brilliant," he looked at Amy. "You're brilliant," he kissed her on the head before looking at Daniel. "And you…" there was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do, but within the presence of 1940's men and woman would probably result in them being chased out with guns blazing but Daniel just smiled, reaching over to squeeze his hand. "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the Daleks!" he ran out of the room.

"Wait! Doctor! Wait… wait," the Doctor stepped back into the room as Bracewell sat up, the man calling out to him. "It's too late. Gone. They've gone."

"No, no, no! They can't! They can't have got away from me again!"

"No, I can feel it, my mind is clear. The Daleks have gone."

The Doctor leant against a pole, all his energy suddenly drained. Daniel stood from the ground and joined the Doctor, placing a hand on his arm. "It's okay! You did it," Amy called to him, smiling. "You stopped the bomb."

"I had a choice, and they knew I'd choose the Earth," he sighed, looking Daniel in the eyes. "The Daleks won. They beat me. They've won."

Daniel shook his head. "Look around at all the people you saved," he gestured to all the thankful faces. "For as long as you save people, the Dalek will _never_ win… don't you _ever_ forget that."

"Yeah," he smiled slightly. "I'll never forget it with _you_ around."

"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend," Churchill stepped up, holding a cigar for the man to take. "Here, have a cigar!"

"No." he waved it off, walking out the room.

"I'll check on him," Daniel said, following him out of the room. It hadn't taken long for him to find the man, who was sat on the floor of one of the corridors. "You'll have another chance to stop the Daleks, they always come back."

The Doctor looked up at Daniel. "But I had the chance to do it today, now they're more powerful then before."

"Never stopped you before though," Daniel sat down beside him. "What's going to stop you now?"

"I have something to fight for." The Doctor mumbled, looking at Daniel.

"You've always had something to fight for," he shrugged, missing the look. "Now you can fight extra hard."

The Doctor laughed, reaching out to take his hand. "I meant _you_ ," Daniel looked at him, a confused look. "I have to fight for you."

Daniel smiled, leaning in to kiss the Doctor on the cheek… but the Doctor turned his head at the last instant, pecking Daniel on the lips. "So… what does this mean?" Daniel asked him, a soft smile on his face.

"What do _you_ think?" the Doctor laughed.

Daniel just rolled his eyes, leaning in once again to give the Doctor a longer kiss.

~DW~

"Where's the Doctor and Daniel?" they heard Amy ask as they stepped into the room, holding hands.

"Tying up loose ends," the Doctor informed her. "I've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in."

"Won't you reconsider, Doctor?" Churchill turned to him, "Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!"

"Exactly." the Doctor took a sip of a tea.

"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?"

"Oh, it doesn't work like that, Churchie," Daniel cut in, smiling at the man. "It's gonna be tough. There are terrible days to come. _Dark_ days, but you can do it. You know you can."

Churchill smiled at Daniel's reassurance. "Stay with us, and help us win though!" Churchill pleaded. "The world needs you."

"The world doesn't need me." The Doctor shook his head.

"No?"

"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill."

Churchill laughed, "It's been a pleasure, as always."

"Too right." he reached forward and hugged the man.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, shall we say adieu?"

"Indeed," Churchill pulled back and went to hug Daniel as well. "Daniel," before turning to Amy, "Goodbye, Miss Pond."

"It's…it's been amazing," Amy told him, "Meeting you."

"I'm sure it has!"

Amy kissed him on the check and he turned to head for the door, "Oi, Churchill!" she held out her hand, "TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor."

The Doctor nearly choked on his tea and patted his pockets, looking at Churchill in shock.

"Oh, she's good, Doctor," the man laughed, "As sharp as a pin!" he handed her the key. "Almost as sharp as me!" he lit his cigar. "KBO!"

After Churchill left the room, the Doctor held out his hand and Amy gave the key back.

~DW~

Bracewell was standing stoically in his office, waiting, as the trio stepped in.

"I've been expecting you," he sighed and turned around, a black leather glove now over his stump, "I knew this moment had to come."

"Moment?" the Doctor frowned.

"It's time to deactivate me."

"Is it?" he glanced at two beside him, "Oh...yeah..."

"You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business."

"No, you're dead right, professor Bracewell. 100 percent right. And by the time we get back here in..."

"Ten minutes?" Daniel suggested.

"More like 15." Amy shrugged.

"Fifteen minutes," he nodded, "Yeah, that's exactly what we're going to do. You are going to be so deactivated. It's going be like you've never even been...activated."

"Yeah."

"15 minutes?" Bracewell frowned.

"More like 20, if he's driving." Daniel added.

The Doctor nodded, "Once Pond, Daniel, and I see to the urgent thing…"

"Yes!" Amy pointed.

"…we've got to see to. The...the...see?"

"Very well, Doctor," Bracewell nodded, "I shall wait here and prepare myself."

Amy turned to Daniel. "That Dalek tech's a little bit slow on the uptake," she pointed out, Daniel smirked slightly as Amy turned back to Bracewell, "That thing we've got to do. Gonna take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, Doctor?"

"Easily!" Daniel answered instead. "Maybe even an hour, especially knowing the Doctor and his piloting…"

"So no running off, that's what we're saying," the Doctor looked pointedly at Bracewell, "Don't go trying to find that little post office with the ash trees or that girl...what was her name?"

"Dorabella…" Bracewell started to catch on.

"Dorabella. On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in an hour."

Bracewell smiled and laughed, "Thank you Doctor! Thank you, Daniel!"

"Come along, Pond!" the Doctor called, the trio walking out the room.

~DW~

"So, you have enemies then?" Amy asked as they headed for the TARDIS.

"Everyone's got enemies," the Doctor shrugged.

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, like, you know, archenemies."

"Suppose so," the Doctor shrugged, leaning against the TARDIS.

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous."

"Yup. Very. Is that a problem?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she eyed him for a moment, "You're worried about the Daleks."

"He's always worried about the Daleks." Daniel stated, reaching out to take the Doctor's hand.

"It'll take time, though, won't it? There's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up."

"It's not that," the Doctor shook his head. "There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have."

"Me?" Amy frowned.

"You didn't know them, Amy, you'd never seen them before," the Doctor informed her. "And you should have done. You should."

He turned and unlocked the TARDIS, stepping in with Daniel, Amy following a moment later.

~DW~

"I don't understand it," Daniel said as he sat across from the Doctor in the kitchen, a glass of tea before him, as the two waited for Amy to wake up. "How can Amy not remember the Daleks?"

Both he and Amy were from the same timeline, sure Daniel had been from 2009 when he left but he hadn't forgotten the Dalek invasion. It couldn't be possible that anyone had forgotten it in the space of a year? They had checked the TARDIS databanks, even the TARDIS held a record of the incident, so it wasn't like it hadn't happened. He had ended up phoning Sarah Jane, seeing if Mr. Smith or even she could remember the incident, they had both reported remembering it.

"I don't know," the Doctor sighed. "I've ran a scan on her while she was asleep, there were no signs of her mind being wiped or any altering."

They sighed, Daniel taking a sip of his tea, as they sat in a comfortable silence. "I should change," Daniel stood up, gesturing to his the pyjamas he was still wearing. "We'll figure something out, okay."

The Doctor just nodded, smiling as Daniel stepped over to him. He stood up and pecked Daniel's lips. "I'm never gonna stop doing that." He mumbled.

"I should hope not," Daniel grinned as he walked away. "I quite enjoy it when you do."

A/N: Finally, the Doctor and Daniel are finally together!

I have a Tumblr, which is .com. So feel free to follow me, come see what plans for future stories I have or if you have any questions you want to ask about this series or anything about me in general. Now that shameless plug is over, we can move on with the show.

Up next is The Time of Angels. Daniel meets River Song for the first time, what will he think of her? What will change between the Doctor and River? How will Daniel deal with the Weeping Angels? Find out next week. I've been Landing and this is Changes and Discoveries.


	4. The Time of Angels

**A/N: I am so sorry that this wasn't posted yesterday. I don't have any reasonable excuse other then I decided at about** **midday** **that I was going to rewrite the _entire_ thing. **

Disclaimer: see _The Eleventh Hour_

Changes and Discoveries: The Time of Angels

~DW~

Strolling through a museum based on a medieval church, the Doctor strode through the displays. At his side was Daniel, smiling as he listened to the Doctor while behind them was Amy, who seemed to not be bothered by what the Doctor was presenting. "Wrong! Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong," Daniel laughed, while Amy shook her head. "Daniel look! There's one of yours in here!"

Daniel frowned, looking down at the display case. Inside was a slab of stone with a rough image of Daniel etched into it and he laughed, the memory became clear as he looked. "Oh god yeah! That was the Empress of the Hyspero when she thought I was going to say yes to her proposal…" Amy rolled her eyes but Daniel didn't notice.

"And I'm glad you didn't," the Doctor grinned, stepping behind Daniel and wrapping his arms around his waist. "Otherwise I'd have to start a revolt to get you back."

"Yeah, great, whoopee!" Amy groaned. "Can we go to a planet now? As much as I love to third wheel on these little dates of yours," She laughed as the Doctor turned and stuck his tongue out at her. "Big space ship, Churchill's bunker…? You promised me a planet next."

"Amy, this isn't any old asteroid," the Doctor just smiled, kissing Daniel on the cheek. "It's the Delerium Archive, final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever."

Amy just rolled her eyes. "You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?"

Daniel wiggled out of the Doctor's grip and walked away from the duo.

"Wrong! Very wrong! Ooh, one of mine. Also one of mine." The Doctor continued, ignoring Amy's question.

"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score."

Daniel paused before a display. It was an aged black box with symbols that Daniel had seen once before. "Doctor," he called to him. "You're going to want to see this."

The Doctor and Amy joined him, the Doctor peering into the case while Amy just sighed. "Oh great, an old box."

"It's from one of the old star liners," the Doctor explained. "A Home Box."

"What's a Home Box?"

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home, with all the flight data."

"So?"

"The writing," he pointed at the etchings. "The graffiti, it's Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords," he smiled at memory of the Time Lords. "There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple Gods."

"What does it day?" Amy asked, intrigued.

"Hello, sweetie." He pulled a face.

Daniel frowned as he looked at the box.

The next thing Daniel knew, he was being pulled by the Amy as they ran after the Doctor, the man holding the home box under his arm. Behind them, guards chased them.

They ran into the TARDIS, the doors slamming shut behind Daniel as he entered last. "Why are we doing this?" Amy asked, walking up to where the Doctor was hooking the home box to the console.

"Cos someone on a space ship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention," the Doctor explained. "Let's see if we can get the security playback working."

The monitor played back grainy black and white footage of River Song, dressed in a long black gown. She pulled down her sunglasses and winked at the camera, before the footage showed River with her back to the camera, facing a door.

"The party's over, Doctor Song," a man said off-screen. "Yet still you're on board."

River turned to face him. "Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination."

River simply looked at her watch, "Triple-seven, five, slash, three, four, nine by ten…" the Doctor and Daniel exchanged a look, "Zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."

"Coordinates?" Daniel asked, unsure of it.

"Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."

The Doctor began to type on the keyboard, nodding.

"What was that, what did she say?" Amy asked.

"Coordinates!" the Doctor confirmed.

"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!" the River on screen said as a timer went off. The door behind her burst open and she blew a kiss at the camera before falling out. The footage cut off as the Doctor ran to the door of the TARDIS, holding it open and reaching out, pulling River right in. However, the momentum of the flight was enough to knockthem both to the floor.

"River?" the Doctor eyed the woman.

"Doctor?" Daniel frowned, crossing his arms as he didn't push River off him.

At the sound of Daniel's voice, River quickly pushed the Doctor off her and turned to watch the ship fly away. "Follow that ship."

Amy and Daniel stood back as both the Doctor and River worked on the console, River's shoes hung on the monitor.

"They've gone into warp drive," River reported. "We're losing them! Stay close!"

"I'm trying!" the Doctor called to her.

"Then let Daniel drive," she scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. "He's a better pilot!"

Daniel stepped forward, frowning as he jumped into action on the console. "Use the stabilisers." He told the Doctor, shuffling past River to reach another part of the console.

"There aren't any stabilisers!" the Doctor called back.

"The blue switches!" River instructed him, pointing to them.

"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just… blue."

"Yes, they're blue," she rolled her eyes. "They're blue stabilisers!" she pushed and the entire TARDIS went silent. "See?"

"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're… boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers."

"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked.

"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" he scoffed, sitting on the jump seta by the console and sulked.

"How on earth do you mange it," River mumbled to Daniel, who just smiled slight. "Ok, I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right along side."

"Parked us?" the Doctor scoffed. "We haven't landed."

"Of course we've landed. I just landed her."

"But it didn't make the noise."

"What noise?"

"You know, the…" he imitated the wheezing sound the TARDIS made as he stood.

"It's not supposed to make that noise," she rolled her eyes at him. "You leave the brakes on."

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise," he strolled to the doors, leaving the trio to stare at him. "Come along, Pond, Daniel, let's have a look."

"No, wait!" she called to him. "Environment checks."

"That's a thing we can do?" Daniel turned to her, frowning. "How come he never does that?"

"Oh, yes, sorry!" the Doctor rolled his eyes at them, "Quite right. Environment checks," he turned and stuck his head out the door, "Nice out."

River moved so Daniel could read off the monitor. "We're somewhere in the Garn Belt," Daniel called to him, not sure why River moved. "There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest…"

"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System," the Doctor cut in, "Oxygen rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." he put his head out the door once more, "Chances of rain later."

Daniel just shook his head and walked down to the Doctor.

River leant close to Amy, whispering. "He thinks Daniel finds it _so_ hot when he does that." Amy laughed.

The Doctor met Daniel on the steps, giving him a quick peck on the lips. River smiled at the interaction, glad to see things hadn't changed her them. She feared the day she met a version of the Doctor and Daniel that _weren't_ in the honeymoon stages of their relationship. She hoped she wasn't present for their first fight… lord knows how bad they get _after_ they fight.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked her.

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best."

"Well, yeah." The Doctor smirked at Daniel, who rolled his eyes.

"It's a shame you were busy that day," Daniel smirked at him and River unhooked her shoes from the monitor. "Right then, why did they land here?" she asked, heading for the doors.

"They didn't land."

"Sorry?" she turned to look at the Doctor.

The Doctor followed her. "You should've checked the Home Box, it crashed."

River stepped outside and the Doctor closed the door behind her before heading back to the console, Amy and Daniel just staring at him with questioning looks.

"Explain! Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" Amy questioned, hands on her hips.

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it," he waved her off. "Off we go!"

"What are you doing?" Daniel frowned.

"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."

"Are you basically running away?" Amy cocked an eyebrow.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Cos she's the future," the Doctor hesitated, looking at Daniel briefly, not wanting to admit the possibility. "My _future_."

Although the Doctor hadn't thought much of River since the library, but the idea that she was from his future timeline was baffling. He tried to think back to the library as he tried to figure out if River had made any mention back to Daniel… to anything that could have happened to him.

 _~DW~_

 _In the Library, the Doctor was on the floor, examining shadows with the sonic. Although he was focused on the shadows, he listened in on the conversation River was having with Donna._

 _"You travel with him, don't you?" River asked Donna. "Is it just you two?"_

 _"Yeah it's just us two," Donna frowned. "What of it?"_

 _The Doctor still on the floor, arrived at Proper Dave's feet. "Proper Dave, could you move over a bit?"_

 _"Why?" the man asked._

 _"Over there by the water cooler," he instead nodded. "Thanks."_

 _"You know him, don't you?" Donna asked, watching as Proper Dave walked to the rest of the group._

 _"Oh, god, do I know that man," River laughed slightly. "We go way back, that man and me… although there is usually one more, maybe even two more."_

 _"I'm sorry, what?"_

 _"He hasn't met me yet, nor him either. I sent him a message but it went wrong, it arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks_ right _through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does."_

 _River just looked at the Doctor before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath._

 _~DW~_

"Can you run away from that?" Amy questioned, snapping the Doctor out of his attempts to recall anything she could have said about Daniel.

She had mentioned him. He hadn't paid much attention to it, having assumed that she was from his future meant that he was just a companion. But River mentioned another, meaning that Daniel wasn't going to be the only companion he cared for deeply… who was it then?

"I can run away from anything I like," the Doctor shrugged, watching Daniel closely. "Time is not the boss of me."

Amy was silent before she turned to the doors, now just realising something. "Hang on, is that a planet out there?"

"Yes, of course it's a planet."

"You promised me a planet," Amy grinned at him. "Five minutes?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, giving in. "Ok, five minutes!"

"Yes!" Amy quickly headed for the door.

"But that's all, cos I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!" he called to her, stopping to look at the silent Daniel. "Are you alright?"

Daniel just put on a smile, nodding. "Yeah, I'm alright," he told him. "We better get out there before River does something to get us in trouble."

The Doctor just nodded, reaching out to take Daniel's hand and they stepped out onto a beach where the ship they had followed had crashed, leaving debris scattered around.

"What caused it to crash?" River asked, looking up at the crashed ship. "Not me."

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it," the Doctor informed her. "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase-shift. No survivors."

"A phase-shift would have been sabotage," River rolled her eyes. "I did warn them."

"About what?" Daniel asked.

"Well, at least the building was empty," she instead said, Daniel frowned. "Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." She began to key something into a handheld device.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy asked as she walked over to them.

"Amy Pond, Daniel Young," the Doctor gestured to River. "Professor River Song."

"Ahh," she turned to the Doctor. "I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I?" the Doctor winced at the slip. "How exciting! Spoilers!" She chuckled, turning her attention back to the device.

"Yeah, but _who_ is she and how did she do that?" Amy whispered. "She just left you a note in a museum!"

The Doctor walked off, dragging Daniel with him, as River stepped over to Amy. "Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum," she said. "The Home Box of category starliner and, sooner or later, him… it's how he shows off to Daniel."

She nodded to where Daniel was staring up at the ship, frowning, while the Doctor just watched him.

"I know." Amy laughed.

"It's hilarious, isn't it?"

The Doctor and Daniel stepped up behind them, the Doctor sarcastically laughing. "I'm _nobody's_ taxi service!" he turned to River. "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship."

River only smiled. "And you are so wrong, Daniel would _never_ allow you not to catch me," Daniel cocked an eyebrow at that, giving River a confused look. "There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die," she smirked when she saw the intrigue in the Doctor's eye. "Now he's listening!" she held up the device to her face, speaking into it. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal," she turned to the Doctor and held the device into the sky. "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

The Doctor sighed, taking out the sonic and flashed it in River's direction. She dropped into a small curtsey before returning her attention to the device.

"Oh, Doctor! You soniced her!" Amy teased him.

"We have a minute. Shall we?" River called to him, walking back over to them. "Where were we up to?" they watched as she pulled out a TARDIS shaped diary, opening it. "Have we done the Bone Meadows?"

"What's that?" Daniel asked, trying to get a peak of the book.

"Stay away from it." The Doctor warned him.

"But what is it though?"

"Her diary."

" _Our_ dairy." River corrected.

"Her past, my… future," the Doctor explained. "Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order."

As they spoke, four columns of swirling dust appeared on the beach which turned into four soldiers in desert camouflage appeared. One of the soldiers approached River.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song." The soldier said.

"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army," she smirked, nodding at the Doctor. "This is the Doctor," he gave the solider a light hearted salute. "And Daniel Young." Daniel just gave a small wave.

The soldiers eyes widened as looked at Daniel, as if surprised. "Father Octavian, sir," the man introduced himself, shaking Daniel's hand, surprising him slightly. "Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command," he reached over to shake the Doctor's hand. "The troops are already in the drop shit and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

"Doctor, Daniel, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" She asked them.

They turned to face her, tensing.

~DW~

Father Octavian strode across the ground of the cave followed by the Doctor, Daniel and Amy. "The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship," he informed them. "Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this," he held up a device. "Behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."

"Oh, good." The Doctor mumbled, unable to think of anything good coming from this.

"Good, sir?" Octavian frowned.

"Catacombs, probably dark ones," he explained tensely, Daniel shook his head as his tenseness was lost on Octavian. "Dark catacombs, great."

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead."

Daniel sighed, giving Octavian a unamused look. "You can stop any time you like."

"Father Octavian?" A solider called.

The Doctor waved off Octavian as he walked away. He then used the sonic on some of the equipment set up on a table. "You're letting people call you 'sir'. You never do that," Amy commented, sitting on the table. "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"

"Now that's interesting," the Doctor looked at Amy. "You're still here. What part of 'wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing?"

"Oh, are you all Mr Grumpy Face today?" she sassed.

"A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced," the Doctor explained to her. "And one is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation, and the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face, do something clever which I haven't thought of yet," Daniel just shook his head, although he knew the Angels were dangerous, he couldn't help but think the Doctor was being a _tad bit_ overdramatic. "That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

"Is River Song your wife?" Amy asked suddenly. "'Cos she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kinda like, you know, 'Heel, boy!' She's Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife one day?"

Daniel tensed as he waited for the Doctor's answer. He couldn't help but wonder if River could be his wife in the future, he knew he wasn't going to be around for ever so it could be possible that she was a future lover… but it bothered him. They'd only been officially together for about a week or so, so he had no right to be jealous, yet he couldn't help but be, she was pretty, smart and quite honestly a badass and he could understand the Doctor's possible attraction to the woman but when he compared her to himself… he was nothing like that. He wasn't a badass, never in a million years would he risk jumping off something and hoping the Doctor would catch him, he was street smart while she was space smart… so why _wouldn't_ the Doctor fall for her?

"Your right," the Doctor muttered, catching both Amy and Daniel off guard. "I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today."

"Doctor?" River called from the transport. "Daniel!"

"Oops!" Amy grinned. "Her indoors!"

"Father Octavian!" River added as they walked to her.

"Why do they call them Father?" Amy asked.

"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics," the Doctor explained briefly. "It's the 51st Century, the Church has moved on.

~DW~

They watched the screen within the ship as River showed them the footage of the Weeping Angel, it's faced away from the camera with its hands over its eyes.

"What do you think?" River asked, holding the remote in her hand. "It's from the security cameras in the _Byzantium_ vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop."

"Yeah it's an Angel," Daniel confirmed, surprising Amy and Octavian. "Hands over its eyes and _bloody_ creepy."

"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked.

"On Earth a long time ago," the Doctor nodded, remembering when they had encountered the Angels during World War I and again when he and Martha had encountered them. "But those were scavengers, barely surviving."

"It's just a statue." Amy frowned.

"It's a statue when you see it." River corrected.

"Where did it come from?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time."

"There's a difference between dormant and patient."

"What's that mean?" Amy looked at Daniel, knowing that he could explain it to her without getting complicated. "It's a statue when you see it?"

"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen." Daniel told her, frowning at the screen.

"So legend has it." River added.

"No, it's not legend, it's quantum lock," the Doctor corrected her. "In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They become stone. The ultimate defence mechanism."

"What, being stone?" Amy frowned.

"Being stone… until you turn your back." The Doctor led the others out of the transport. "The hyperdrive would've split on impact. The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing."

"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked.

"Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"

"The Aplans," River replied, reading from her device. "The indigenous life-form. They died out 40 years ago."

"200 years later, the planet was terra-formed," Octavian added. "Currently there are six billion human colonists."

"You lot, you're everywhere!" the Doctor laughed slightly, "Like rabbits! We'll never get done saving you."

"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population..."

"Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!"

"Verger, how we doing with those explosives?" Octavian jumped into action. "Dr Song, with me."

"Two minutes," she promised him, walking in another direction. "Sweetie, I need you."

The Doctor mouthed Sweetie to himself, frowning, before realising that River meant him and went over to her… not before stepping up to Daniel and kissing him on the cheek. "I'll be right back." He promised him.

Daniel just smiled. "I know, I'll be right here," he stepped from the Doctor before nodding at Amy. "I'm gonna tell Amy all I know about the Angels, just so she knows what we're dealing with."

The Doctor smiled and quickly chased River down, missing the way the smile on Daniel's face fell… but Daniel straightened his back and cleared his throat as he turned to Amy. "Right, let's get inside and maybe I'll convince you to stay in the TARDIS."

Amy only smirked. "I'd like to see you try." She challenged him.

Daniel laughed and stepped into the transport with Amy, opening his mouth to say something when he looked at the screen and his mouth quickly shut… the Angel on the screen had moved.

When Daniel had last seen it, its hands had been on its face but now they were _away_ from its face.

~DW~

"I found this," River handed the Doctor a worn journal, which he began to look through the pages. "Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman, it's barely readable but I've marked a few passages."

"Not bad," he closed the book, having finished reading it. "Bit slow in the middle, didn't you hate his girlfriend?" his eyes widened slightly as he sniffed the book. "No, hang on, wait, wait!"

"Dr Song?" Amy popped her head out from the transport. "Did you have more then one clip of the Angel?"

"No, just the four seconds." River confirmed.

Amy turned back into the transport, puzzled.

"This book is wrong!" the Doctor mumbled. "What's wrong with this book, it's wrong."

~DW~

"Well?" Daniel asked, looking at Amy.

"Just the four seconds." Amy repeated.

They turned back to the footage again and now the Angel is facing forward, hands down at its side. "Keep looking at the Angel." Daniel muttered to Amy, not wanting to take any chances.

He took a step towards the screen, Amy staring at the Angel, looking down at the time code in the corner of the screen. It looped from 11:24 to 11:28 yet the position of the Angel had changed. Fear washed through Daniel as he realised that the Angel was _alive_ and watching them!

Amy turned away from the screen and watched as the door closed. "Daniel!" she called, quickly running to the door as she tried to open it.

~DW~

River observed the Doctor as he examined the journal. "Oh, it's so strange," River remarked, titling her head to the side. "When you go all baby-face. How early is this for both of you?"

"Very early." The Doctor shrugged, turning the journal in is hands as he tried to think of what was wrong.

"So you both don't know who I am yet?" River asked.

"How do you know I am? Daniel I can understand but I don't always look the same."

"I've got pictures of all your faces," River answered, almost sounding relieved he hadn't answered. "You never show up in the right order though. I need a spotter's guide."

"Pictures?" the Doctor suddenly realised what was wrong. "Why aren't there pictures?"

~DW~

Daniel didn't look at Amy, blindly reaching out for the remote for the video. He had to turn off the footage; he couldn't have the Angel watching them… even if he didn't know _how_ it was possible for the creature to see them through the 4 looped seconds.

He pressed the power button on the remote and could of let out a sigh of relief as the footage switched off… if it hadn't been for the fact that the footage switched back on. He tried it a couple more times. He looked away, unaware that Amy's attention had been turned to the door, as he reached around to unplug the entire screen. He struggled to pull the cord out and when he looked to see if it had been turned off he saw the Angel's face close to the camera and scrambled back.

It was then when he saw Amy trying to open the door, he quickly joined her at the door and tried to push it open. When they looked back at the screen, they saw the Angel's mouth opened, ready to attack.

"Doctor!" Daniel cried, slamming his hands on the door. "Doctor Song!"

~DW~

"This whole book, it's a warning, about the Weeping Angels," the Doctor explained. "So why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?"

"There was a bit about images." River realised.

"Yes! Hang on," he flicked through the book. "That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel."

~DW~

Amy spared another look at the screen as they tried to open the door, her eyes going wide at what she saw. "Daniel!" she gasped, tugging Daniel's arm.

~DW~

"What does that mean?" River asked, watching as the Doctor grew fearful. "'An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'"

~DW~

Daniel gasped as he looked at the Angel was in the room, growing solid in the center of the transport. He quickly pulled Amy behind him, turning her to face the wall. "Amy face that wall!" He stood back to back with her, staring at the Angel. "I'm gonna stare at the Angel so it can't move anymore, but once I need to blink we switch places. Understand?!"

Amy nodded. "Doctor!" she screamed in one final attempt. "It's in the room!"

Daniel took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the deadliest staring contest.

~DW~

The Doctor and River turned to look at the transport, having heard Amy. "Daniel!" the Doctor ran to the transport. "Amy!"

"Doctor!" Amy shouted.

"Are you alright?" he ran up to the door. "What's happening?"

"It's coming out of the television!" Amy informed him. "Daniel staring at it, we're gonna have to switch soon."

"You need to listen to him Amy!" he shouted, taking out the sonic and flashed it a keypad. "Daniel! Don't blink!" he knew Daniel wouldn't reply, too focused on preventing the Angel from closing in on them. "I'll get you out of there!" he looked down at the sonic, glaring at it. "It's deadlocked."

"There is _no_ deadlock." River informed him, trying to override the controls, her heart racing.

"Ready Amy?" they could hear Daniel say. "Switch!"

~DW~

Daniel and Amy switched places, Daniel blinking rapidly as his eyes began to sting as tears filled his eyes in an attempt to moisten his eyes.

His heart was racing but he had faith in the Doctor, he knew that he would get them out of here… but right now he had to make sure Amy was safe.

~DW~

"What are you doing?" River demanded as the Doctor shoved her aside.

"Cutting the power," the Doctor flashed the sonic at the panel, hearts racing. "It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off," he let out a groan when nothing happened. "It's not good, it's deadlocked the whole system."

"There's _no_ deadlock." River stated.

"There is _now_!" he snapped.

"Switch!" Amy called from inside.

"Daniel! Can you turn it off?" the Doctor yelled, knowing that Daniel was facing the Angel now.

"I tried." Daniel called back, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Try again but don't take your eyes off the Angel."

"I won't!"

"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink."

"I'm not blinking! Have you ever tried _not_ blinking!" he called back, blindly reaching out for the remote. He grabbed it and aimed it at the screen, staring to wink in a desperate attempt to prevent Amy from having to deal with it, but like before it kept turning itself back on. "It just keeps switching back on!"

"Yeah, it's the Angel."

"But it's just a recording."

"No 'anything that takes the image of Angel is an Angel'"

~DW~

The Doctor looked over at River. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to cut through," she held up a small blowtorch. "It's not even warm."

"There is no way in, it's not physically possible!" he slammed his hand on the door, River was unfazed and almost rolled her eyes at him.

Honestly this man would never change when it came to Daniel being in danger.

~DW~

"Doctor!" Amy turned to look at the doors, growing concerned that Daniel hadn't switched yet. "What's it gonna do to us?"

"Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking!" the Doctor ordered.

"Just tell me. What's it gonna do to me?"

"Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking!"

"Just tell me."

"Daniel, not the eyes," the Doctor called, also concerned that Daniel hadn't yelled to switch. "Look anywhere but don't look at the eyes."

Daniel couldn't help it, he found himself looking directly in the eyes of the Angel. Then he felt it, his head slowly starting to pulsate and he groaned in pain. Amy turned to look at Daniel, concerned that the man was in pain. Daniel hadn't stopped staring at the Angel, but his eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" River asked the Doctor.

"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors," the Doctor read. "Beware what may enter there."

Daniel lifted his hands to his temples, groaning in pain as the pulsing in his head growing painful by the second and he fear that in any second he would blink and the Angel would kill them. Amy could only watch in astonishment as the entire screen began to crack before shattering and the entire television rocked slightly as if something had hit it, causing it to fall to the floor with the wires and cables sticking out.

The doors opened and the Doctor ran in, just in time to catch Daniel as he swayed to the side. River stepped in and looked at the destruction and then to Daniel, a knowing look on her face. "What happened?" the Doctor asked them, his attention on Daniel.

"Daniel…" Amy trailed off, seeing River's shake her head at her, before trying to come up with a lie. "Daniel tried to switch off the power again but instead threw one of the stools at the television."

She knew it wasn't a lie that would explain why he had almost collapsed, but she could say it was due to not breaking contact with the Angel. But the Doctor seemed to buy it, which was good enough. "That was brilliant," The Doctor muttered, kissing Daniel on the forehead. "River, hug Amy."

"Why?" River frowned.

"Because she deserves it." Daniel answered, clearing his throat as he stared up at the Doctor.

"I'm fine." Amy brushed it off, concerned for her friend.

"You're brilliant!" River corrected, giving the woman a side hug. "Thank you," she whispered before speaking with her normal voice as she looked at the destroyed television. "So it was here? That was the Angel?"

"That was a projection of the Angel," the Doctor corrected, steadying Daniel on his feet. "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us."

"I think it got a good enough look." Daniel tried to joke. "Because _I_ defiantly got a good look of it."

The Doctor almost laughed, almost, but instead pressed his lips to Daniel's temples. Before he could say anything, a explosion sounded from outside, and River and Amy ran to the door while Daniel was supported by the Doctor outside.

"It's gone positive!" a soldier called.

"Doctor!" Octavian turned to the transport ship. "We're through!"

"Ok," the Doctor looked between Amy and River. "Now it starts."

Daniel stepped out of the Doctor's arms, feeling stable enough to walk on his own. He looked over to Amy, who rubbed her eyes, and then to River who was watching him like a hawk. He then looked back at the transport, unable to think of how he had done that, but was thankful that the Angel was gone. He reached up to wipe his eyes, when he frowned, as if feeling something gritty under his finger.

~DW~

The Doctor climbed down a rope ladder and joined Octavian at the bottom. They both turned on their torches and looked around as Amy, River and Daniel joined them with the other soldiers. "Do we have a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked.

"Grav globe." Octavian ordered, holding out his hand. A soldier reached into his back and pulled out a sphere, handing it to the man.

"Where are we?" Amy squinted. "What is this?"

"It's an Aplan mortarium," River told her. "Sometimes called a maze of the dead."

"And what's that?"

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone," the Doctor kicked the gravity globe like a football and it rose into the air, stopping and began to light up the cave showing a large number of stone statues. "The perfect hiding place."

"Oh brilliant." Daniel muttered under his breath.

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier." Octavian remarked.

"A bit, yeah." The Doctor reached out for Daniel, squeezing his hand.

"A stone angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder then I'd prayed for."

"A needle in a haystack." River agreed.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle… of death," the Doctor rambled. "A hay-alike needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues…" he looked over at Octavian, who was staring at him strangely, before looking at Daniel. "Over did it?"

"Just a tad." Daniel nodded.

"Right," Octavian nodded, turning to his clerics. "Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection," he turned to the Doctor. "One question, how do we fight it?"

"We find it, and hope." The Doctor offered, walking away holding Daniel's hand and Amy followed.

River went to follow but Octavian grabbed her by the arm. "They don't know yet, do they?" he questioned her. "Who and what you are."

"It's too early in their time stream." She confirmed.

"Well, make sure they don't work it out, or I'd rather not deal with the Phoenix's fury."

"I'd never call him Phoenix around him otherwise you _will_ deal with it," River informed him. "But he doesn't know anything yet, not what awaits him," Octavian nodded, knowing the stories of the Phoenix and he honestly couldn't believe that Daniel was the Phoenix. "He doesn't have _that_ under control but I've been trained in psychic barriers to prevent such things."

"You'd better be right."

"I won't let you down. Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison." She pulled her arm out of his grip, quickly walking up to join the TARDIS crew.

"Sir?" a soldier called. "Side chamber. One visible exit."

"Check it out," he ordered. "Angelo, go with him."

~DW~

The Doctor shined his torch in every direction, Amy at his side. Daniel was behind him slightly, but he stopped and looked up at the _many_ levels above them and all the statues lining the way. He sighed, rubbing the corner of his eye with his finger and looked down at it and found a little piece of grit. He used his entire hand to rub at his eyes, his breath hitching as sand and grit poured out from his eyes. He quickly stopped, looking at his hands and saw nothing… a hallucination, he was probably freaking out about the Angel.

"You alright?" River asked, stepping up beside him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded, although he tried to ignore the knowing look on his face. "Honestly I'm fine," River just nodded. "So, what's the maze of the dead?"

"It's not what you're probably thinking," she assured him. "It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls," Daniel just gave her an unamused look. "Ok, that was fairly bad," Daniel laughed. "Right give me your arm," his laugh died down when he saw the syringe in her hand. "This isn't for you, god knows you'd rather face a Cyberman then be injected, _this_ is for you." She handed him a water bottle and a large capsule.

Daniel let out a sigh of relief, taking the capsule and the water. "What's it for?" he asked, swallowing the capsule.

"It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything, you're going to need it when we get up to that ship," she informed him. "Plus it helps with preventing more _incidents_ like the one in the ship."

Daniel's eyes widened. "You know about it?" Daniel then shook his head, realising something. "It's because you're from the future, Amy must tell you."

"How do you know it wasn't you?"

Daniel just sighed. "Because I can't explain what happened back there," he was silent and River looked over at the Doctor and Amy. "What's he like?" River looked back at Daniel, confused. "The Doctor, I mean, cos you know him in the future… don't you?"

"The Doctor? River asked, Daniel nodding. "Well, the Doctor's the Doctor."

"That's not what I mean," he rolled his eyes. "Is he happy?"

"Very much so," Daniel nodded, glad to know that the Doctor was happy in the future but River turned to look at the Doctor. "Yes, we are."

"Sorry," the Doctor frowned, taking some readings with River's device. "What?"

"Talking about you."

"I wasn't listening, I'm busy."

"Ah, the other way up." River remarked.

The Doctor turned the device the other way round, Amy snickering into her hand, as he looked over at River who merely raised her eyebrows. "Yeah." The Doctor sighed, having been caught.

"You're _so_ his wife." Amy laughed.

"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy!" River shook her head, smirking slightly. "This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you think it could be anything that simple?"

"Yep." Amy nodded.

"You're good," she commented. "You're _really_ good but Amy…" River looked over at Daniel, who looked upset about her insistence. "Maybe you should drop it for now, yeah?"

Amy frowned and she watched as the woman nodded to Daniel, then she realised how horrible she was being. It was as if she was expecting Daniel and the Doctor's relationship to _fail_ and it wasn't like how she was talking about it behind their backs but instead right in front of the men. She knew how hard it was for gay men in her _own_ time to keep a marriage going yet alone a human and an alien!

She'd have to apologise to him once they defeated the Angel.

~DW~

Amy was rubbing her arm, having been given the injection from River, as she, Daniel, River and the Doctor examined some statues when gunfire rang out. They quickly ran back to the chamber they'd arrived in to see Octavian standing before a frightened looking young man.

"Sorry, sorry," he was quick to apologise. "I thought… I thought it looked at me."

"We know what the Angel looks like," Octavian turned his light on the deformed, faceless statue before them, "Is that the Angel?"

"No, sir."

"No, sir, it is not! According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor."

"What's your name?" Daniel stepped forward, offering the cleric a smile.

"Bob, sir." The boy answered.

"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob."

"It's a Sacred Name," Octavian told him, knowing that Daniel wasn't accustom to the Church. "We all have Sacred Names, they're given to us in the service of the Church."

"Ah, my name is considered Sacred back on to some," Daniel nodded. "Daniel is one of the prophets of the bible… not that I truly believe that, but us Scared Names gotta stick together."

"Yes, sir." Bob smiled slightly, although he knew that Daniel was also a Sacred Name to the Church.

"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," Octavian addressed the group before turning to Bob. "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."

~DW~

"Isn't there a chance this lot's just gonna collapse?" Amy asked them as they walked further up the maze. "There's a whole ship up there."

"Incredible builders, the Aplans." River remarked.

"We had dinner with their chief architect," the Doctor gestured between himself and Daniel. "Two heads are better than one."

"You mean you helped him?" Amy frowned.

"No he meant that they literally had two heads." Daniel recalled, having seen a rough image within the TARDIS databanks.

"That book, the very end," the Doctor tensed, feeling that something was off. "What did it say?"

"Hang on." River reached into her pack and pulled out the journal.

"Read it to me."

"'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'"

~DW~

"Are we there yet?" Amy complained. "It's a hell of a climb."

"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul," River told her. "Only two more levels to go."

"Lovely species, the Aplans," the Doctor took Daniel's hand, swinging it slightly as they walked. "I should introduce you to them sometime."

"I though they were all dead?" Amy frowned.

"So's Winston Churchill, but we stopped the Daleks with him," Daniel reminded. "That's the beauty of Time Travel, anyone you've always wanted to meet in history is just waiting to be met."

"I'm on Virginia Woolf's bowling team," the Doctor added. "Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never shot of a snog with an extra head."

"Doctor, there's something," River frowned as she glanced around the room they stepped into. "I don't know what it is…"

"Something's wrong, don't know what it is yet either, working on it," the Doctor nodded. "Then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you. Er, no offence, Bishop."

"Quite a lot taken, if that's alright, Doctor," Octavian glared as they stepped into a narrow passage, lined with statues. "Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way."

Daniel glanced around the room, frowning slightly as he looked at the statues. "Church had a point, if you think about it," Amy commented. "The divorces must have been messy."

The Doctor stopped and looked closely at the statue. "Oh!" he breathed, realising what was wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh." River's eyes widened as she worked it out.

Daniel frowned, not understanding what was wrong, until he noticed that every time he tried to look at the statue his attention would be darted away from the statue. "Why am I doing that?" Daniel frowned, looking at the Doctor for an answer. "Why do I _not_ want to look at the statue?"

"How could we not notice that?" River asked.

"Low level perception filter." the Doctor suggested, which was more likely to be true if Daniel said he didn't want to look at the statue.

"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian stepped over to them, frowning.

"Nobody move! Everyone stay exactly where you are," the Doctor ordered. "Bishop, I am truly sorry," the Doctor looked at him. "I've made a mistake and we are all in danger."

"What danger?" Octavian asked.

"The Aplans," River told him.

"The Aplans?"

"They've got two heads."

"Yes, I get that. So?"

"So why don't the statues?" the Doctor remarked, and suddenly everyone noticed the statues all had only one head.

"Oh my god." Daniel breathed, looking at _all_ the statues.

"Everyone, over there," the Doctor pointed to a spot in the back where there were no statues. "Just move, don't ask questions, don't speak," everyone moved over and gathered together, Daniel looking keeping his eye on as many statues as he could. "I want you all to switch off your torches."

"Sir?" Octavian frowned.

"Just do it," the Doctor snapped, they quickly did as asked until it was only the Doctor left. "Okay, I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."

"Are you sure about this?" Daniel asked him.

"No."

He switched it off for a split second and turned it on. They gasped, seeing the statues now _facing_ them.

"Oh my god!" Amy gasped. "They've moved."

The Doctor ran ahead, pulling Daniel behind him, as they all looked at the way they had come to be lined with statues.

"They're Angels. All of them!" Daniel exclaimed.

"But they can't be." River shook her head.

"Clerics, keep watching them," the Doctor ran back to the passage they had just been in to see the Angels had moved forwards, on their hands and knees in an attempt to reach them. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."

"There was only one Angel on the ship," River insisted. "Just the one, I swear."

"Could they have been here already?" Daniel suggested.

"The Aplans, how did they die out?" the Doctor turned to River.

"Nobody knows." she shrugged.

"We know."

"They don't look like Angels," Octavian commented, shining his light onto one of the disfigured Angel face.

"And they're not fast," Amy added. "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."

"They're dying," the Doctor told her, tugging Daniel close to him. "They were losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."

"Losing their image."

"And their image is their power… power," the Doctor frowned, before exclaiming. "Power!"

"Doctor?" Daniel frowned.

"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up."

"We need to get out of here fast." River stated.

"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please," Octavian called into his radio. "Any of you, come in!"

"It's Bob, sir," Bob answered. "Sorry, sir."

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you?" Octavian asked. "All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!"

"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."

"Bob," the Doctor snatched the radio from Octavian. "Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"

"I'm talking to my..." Octavian tried to snatch it back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!"

"I'm on my way up to you, sir, I'm homing on your signal." Bob replied.

"Well done, Bob. Sacred Names gotta stick together, that's what Daniel said, didn't he?" he looked over at Daniel, who smiled. "Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them exactly?"

"Snapped their necks, sir." he replied.

"That's odd, that's not how the Angels kill you," the Doctor frowned. "They displace you in time. Unless they need your body for something."

"Bob," Octavian took the radio back. "Did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan. "

"Don't be an idiot!" the Doctor snapped, taking the radio again, "The Angels don't leave you alive!" he picked up the radio again. "Bob, keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?"

"I didn't escape, sir," Bob told him. "The Angel killed me, too."

They looked at each other, wondering what Bob meant. "What do you mean the Angel killed you too?" Daniel asked, taking the radio from the Doctor.

"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick," Daniel looked at the Doctor, wide eyed. "So that was something."

"If you're dead," the Doctor frowned. "How can we be talking to you?"

"You're not talking to me, sirs, the Angel has no voice," Bob explained. "It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."

"So when you say you're on your way up to us…"

"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."

"No way out."

"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" Octavian commanded.

"Go, go, go. All of you run!"

"Doctor?" Daniel called to him, seeing him not making the move to follow.

"I'll be right behind you, I promise," Daniel, River and Amy left with the clerics, leaving only him and Octavian behind. "Called you an idiot. Sorry, but there's not way we could have rescued your men."

"I know that, sir," Octavian nodded. "And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families."

He turned and walked off, leaving the Doctor alone.

"Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"

"Yes, sir," Bob replied. "The other Angels are still restoring."

"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you," he ran along the passage and saw Daniel standing there. "I told you I'd be right behind you, go, run."

"I can't," the Doctor frowned, going up to his side. "No, _really_ I can't."

"Why not?"

"Look at it. Look at my hand," he nodded to his hand, seeing that it looked like it was made of stone. "It's stone!"

The Doctor flashed the torch in Daniel's eyes, frowning. "You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" he realised.

"It was only for a moment," Daniel nodded. "Then I stopped the Angel."

"Listen," he put his hands on the side of his head, trying to sense the Angel in his mind. "It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."

"But it is, look at it!"

"It's in your mind. I swear on my hearts, you _can_ move that hand. You can let go."

"I can't, ok," Daniel sighed, looking over the Doctor's shoulder at where Angels were slowly crawling from. "I've tried and I can't… it's stone."

The torchlight began to flicker.

"The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it," the Doctor turned to also look at the Angels crawling. "So do it, concentrate, move your hand."

"I can't."

"Then we're both going to die."

"You're not going to _die_." Daniel hissed at him.

"They'll kill the lights."

The lights flickered off and the Angels moved in closer.

"You've got to go, you know you have," Daniel looked at the Doctor, fear in his eyes. "You've got all that stuff with River and that's all got to happen. You know you can't die here!" Daniel pleaded.

"Time can be re-written, it doesn't work like that," the lights flickered again. "Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink."

"You need to leave me!"

"I will _never_ leave you, do you understand that."

"You don't kneed to die for me, Doctor, you have a future without me and you need to live it!"

"I have no future without you."

"Now is _not_ the time to get all cheesy!"

"Then move your hand."

"It's _stone_!"

"It's not stone!"

"Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them!" Daniel shook his head. "I am one person, I've had my fun with you but you've got to protect Amy."

"Daniel Young, I love you so much."

Daniel's eyes widened. "You _love_ me?"

"Of course I love you, and I'm never going to leave you, _ever_ ," the Doctor grinned. "But I am sorry about this," he leant down and bit his hand, Daniel yelled, moving his hand. "See, not stone. Now run!"

"You bit me!"

"Yep and you're alive."

"You bit me and you love me."

"Look whose getting cheesy now."

"I love you too."

The grinned at each other before running after the others, they ran into a large room where the base of a ship was sticking out of the roof.

"Clerics, we're down to four men, expect incoming." Octavian ordered as the duo ran into the room.

"Yeah, it's the Angels," the Doctor confirmed. "They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves."

"Which means we won't be able to see them."

"Which means we can't stay here."

"There are more incoming!"

"Any suggestions?" River asked.

"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the _Byzantium_." Octavian explained to them.

"There's no way up, no way back, no way out," she turned to the Doctor. "No pressure, but this is usually when you have a _really_ good idea."

"There's always a way out," the Doctor muttered as the lights flickered off again and when they come back on, the Angels are closer, practically blocking the passage. "There's always a way out."

"Daniel?" Bob asked over the radio. "Can I speak with Daniel, please?"

Daniel shared a look with the Doctor and Octavian, but took the radio. "Hello, Angel," he greeted them with a frown. "What's up?"

"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly… sorry, sir."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."

"Which is?"

"I died in fear."

"Excuse me?" Daniel's eyes widened.

"You told me that us Sacred Names should stick together yet you allowed me to go off on my own, allowing me to die afraid, in pain and alone," the Doctor's jaw tensed as Daniel looked at the radio in anguish, being blamed for the death of Bob. "You gave me faith, and when it mattered, you let me down."

"What are they doing?" Amy whispered to River, her eyes wide as she looked at the upset Daniel.

"They're trying to set him off again," River whispered back, her eyes narrowing at the radio. "Hoping that he will weaken himself so they can get to us but all they've done is made the Doctor angry."

"They know about what happened in the ship?"

"Yes." Was all River said.

"Well then," the Doctor took the radio from Daniel. "THE Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass," Daniel wiped his eyes, his eyes watering, and the Doctor reached out for his hand. "I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."

"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."

Daniel clenched his free hand into a fist, taking a deep breath, as he tried to calm himself… but instead it caused the lights to flicker. River's eyes widened, knowing that the capsules effects were being burned out.

"Yeah, I'm trapped, speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it," the Doctor taunted. "A great big, whopping _mistake_!"

"What mistake, sir?"

The Doctor turned to Amy. "Trust me?"

"Yeah." Amy nodded.

He then turned to River. "Trust me?"

"Always." River smirked.

"You trust me?" the Doctor asked Daniel.

"Do you have to ask me that?" Daniel answered, smiling slightly.

"You lot," he turned to Octavian. "Trust me?"

"Sir," a cleric called, watching the passage. "Two more incoming!"

"We have faith, sir." Octavian nodded.

"Then give me your gun," Octavian handed the Doctor his gun. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do," he jumped in place. "Jump."

"Jump where?"

"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it," the Doctor raised the gun at the roof.

"Sorry, can I ask again?" Angel Bob called, "You mentioned mistakes?"

"Oh, big mistakes," the Doctor let go of Daniel's hand, using the now free hand to speak into the radio. "Huge. Because you tried to upset my boyfriend and in turn you have made _me_ mad and you never want to do that." the threat was clear in his voice that it surprised Amy.

"There's another, sir?"

"There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

"And what would that be, sir?"

"Me!"

The Doctor fired at the gravity globe and it exploded…

 _To Be Continued..._

A/N: So we get a bit of a hint of Daniel's future through River and Octavian, but there will be more to learn in the coming chapters. But what of these headaches that are often followed by something mystical happening to Daniel? You'll have to keep reading.

Up next is Flesh and Stone. What will happen with the Angel in Daniel's mind? The Doctor shows Amy a much darker side to himself with Daniel in danger and heart break lies on the horizon for the duo. What will happen? Find out on Monday!


	5. Flesh and Stone

_"italics"_ is a mystery

Disclaimer: see _The Eleventh Hour_

Changes and Discoveries: Flesh and Stone

~DW~

Everyone was scattered on the _Byzantium_ , recovering from the jump. Amy sat up from her spot on the ground. "Up!" the Doctor jumped to his feet, helping Daniel up. "Look up!"

"You ok?" River asked Amy, helping her.

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"We jumped."

"Jumped where?"

"Up, up, look up!" the Doctor repeated.

"Where are we?"

"Exactly where we were." River insisted.

"No, we're not."

"Move your feet!" the Doctor nudged her, moving so he can sonic an indentation.

"Doctor, what am I looking at?" Amy frowned, looking around. "Explain."

"Oh, come on, Amy, think!" he told her, Daniel joining him at the indentation. "This ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is on?"

Amy looked up, now realising that she was stood on the _Byzantium_ , the Angels directly above her.

"The artificial gravity," Daniel continued. "One good jump and up we fell. The grav-globe was enough to give us a bit of an updraft and the ship did the rest of the work."

"Doctor. The statues," Octavian called to them, looking up at the Angels who had slowly started to mutate. "They look more like Angels now."

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves," the Doctor explained. "Within an hour, they'll have an army!" he opened the indentation, revealing the inside of the ship, just as the lights began to go out around them. "They're taking out the lights. Look at them, look at the Angels," he warned them. "Into the ship, now," he slipped into the ship, holding his arms out for Daniel to fall into. "Quickly all of you!" Daniel slipped into the hole, falling into the Doctor's arms as expected.

"But how?" Amy frowned. "Doctor!" she peered into the hole to see both the Doctor and Daniel standing upright.

"It's just a corridor. The gravity orientates to the floor," he explained. "Now, in here, all of you, don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!" he turned and flashed the sonic on a keypad.

"Ok, men, go, go, go!" Octavian ordered, everyone climbing into the ship. "The Angels, presumably they can jump up too?"

The door closed as soon as everyone was inside. "They're here. Now, in the dark, we're finished. Run!"

A large door behind them rolled closed, blocking the way out.

"This whole place is a death trap." Octavian muttered.

"No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap _and_ a time bomb and now it's a dead end. Nobody panic," there was a pounding on the door as the Angels tried to make their way in; everyone just shot the Doctor a look. "Oh, just me. What's through here?"

"Secondary flight deck." River answered.

"Ok, so we've basically run up the inside of chimney, yeah?" Amy questioned. "So what if the gravity fails?"

River opened a small panel on the wall, pulling out some wires as she tried to work on the power situation.

"I've thought about that."

"And?"

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See, I've thought about it," he turned to look at a box on the wall by the door controls, flashing the sonic at it. "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible."

"Nothing's ever impossible with you," Daniel smiled at him. "How impossible?"

"Two minutes."

There was a low hum and the lights turned off before relighting, revealing that the doors to the cave had opened. "The hull is breached and the power's failing." Octavian reported. The lights went out again and an Angel's arm reached through the hole.

"Sir!" a cleric called. "Incoming!"

"Doctor! Lights!" Amy exclaimed.

The Doctor flashed the sonic at the panel River was working at. The lights came on briefly and they saw half an Angel crawled inside. The lights go out again and come back on brighter and they could clearly see four fully formed Angels inside the corridor with them.

"Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian ordered.

"And don't look at their eyes," the Doctor added. "Anywhere else. Not the eyes," he turned to Octavian. "I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now."

"Good work, Doctor."

"Yes, good. Good in many ways, good you like it so far…"

"So far?" Daniel repeated.

"Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

"Good, fine, do it." Octavian nodded.

"Including all the lights. _All_ of them. I'll need to turn out the lights."

"How long for?"

"Fraction of a second, maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer."

"Maybe?"

"I'm guessing," the Doctor grumbled. "We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship, there isn't a manual for _this_!"

"Calm down," Daniel mumbled, reaching out for the Doctor's hand. "Shouting will only make it worse."

"We lost the torches," Amy reminded. "We'll be in total darkness."

"No other way," the Doctor sighed, turning to Octavian. "Bishop?"

"Dr. Song, I've lost good clerics today," he turned to River. "You trust these two?"

"I absolutely trust them." She nodded.

"The Doctor's not some kind of madman then?"

She hesitated. "I absolutely trust him."

"Excuse me." The Doctor scoffed, turning back to work on the door.

"I'm taking your word," Octavian grabbed River's arm, lowering his voice. "Because you're the only one who can manage this guy."

"Daniel has _much_ better control over him." River cut in.

"But," he continued, ignoring her. "That only works so long as he doesn't know _who_ you are, and God help you if Daniel finds out, because you cost me any more men, and I might just tell them. Understood?"

"Understood." She gave him a hard look.

"Okay," he looked over to the Doctor and Daniel. "Doctor, we've got your back."

"Bless you," Daniel nodded, offering the man a small smile. "Bishop."

Octavian turned to the clerics, squaring his shoulders, as he began to take command. "Combat distance, ten feet. As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol, do not waste your bullets."

"Daniel," the Doctor guided Daniel to the wheel on the door. "When the lights go down, the wheel should release," Daniel nodded. "Spin it clockwise, four turns."

Daniel nodded, smiling, and opened his mouth to say something… only to wince slightly in pain, a headache coming onto him again. "Four." He nodded, feeling the headache passing.

"Amy, stand by Daniel," Amy nodded, taking her position at Daniel's side, when he placed the sonic into the open circuitry from the door controls. "Ready!" he called to Octavian.

"On my count then," Octavian nodded. "God be with us all. Three… two… one," the lights shut off. "Fire!"

The clerics opened fire on the Angel, the bullets connecting with the Angels provided some light as they could see the Angels closing in on them. The Doctor, Daniel, Amy and River pulled on the door as they tried to get it open.

"Turn!" the Doctor yelled over the gun fire.

"Quickly!" River added.

"It's opening, it's working!" Daniel cheered, the door rolling open, allowing Amy and River to slip through and Daniel followed behind.

"Fall back!" Octavian ordered, the clerics moving through the doorway followed by Octavian and the Doctor and they ran down a similar corridor to another door, the Doctor a bit behind as he held the door open with the sonic to ensure no one was left behind.

"Doctor!" Daniel called to him. "Quickly!"

"Doctor!" Amy and River also called.

The Doctor ran to join them as the door closed quickly behind him. The secondary flight deck was in major disrepair with exposed wires all over the consoles and pieces of the ship scattered on the floor from the impact of the crash. The Doctor immediately goes to one of the controls.

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed as the wheel to the door began to spin quickly. Octavian pulled out a small device and set it on the door. "What are you doing?"

"Magnetising the door," he explained. "Nothing could turn that wheel now."

"Yeah?" the Doctor frowned, watching as the wheel began to turn slowly this time.

"Dear God!"

"Ah, how you're getting it! You've bought us time though, that's good. I am good with time."

"Doctor!" Daniel pointed to another door, the wheel spinning fast.

"Seal that door. Seal it now!" Octavian ordered.

A cleric placed a similar device on the second door.

"We're surrounded!" River said, watching as a _third_ door spun open.

"Seal it, seal that door." Octavian ordered again and a second cleric placed a device on the door. "Doctor, how long have we got?"

"Five minutes, max." He answered.

"Nine." Daniel suddenly said, rubbing his forehead as his head began to throb.

"Five." The Doctor corrected him, looking at Daniel in confusion.

"Five, right, yeah."

"Why d'you say nine?"

"I didn't."

"We need another way out of here." River cut in, although she eyed Daniel slightly.

"There isn't one." Octavian told her.

"Yeah, there is, course there is," the Doctor corrected him, looking around the room. "This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years between planet-falls. So," he snapped his fingers. "What do they need?"

"Of course." River breathed, working it out.

The Doctor snapped his fingers again, pointing at River.

"Of course, what?" Amy frowned, not getting it. "What do they need?"

"Can we get in there?" Octavian asked.

"It's a sealed unit," the Doctor looked at the wall behind them. "But they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up," he leant forward, looking down at something on the base of the door. "There's clamps. Release the clamps!" he moved some equipment out of the way, flashing the sonic at the clamps.

"What's through there?" Amy asked, annoyed that no one had answered her question, so she turned to Daniel. "What do they need?"

"They need to breath." Daniel told her, although he wasn't entirely sure _how_ this was possible for an escape route.

The door slowly rose, revealing a lush forest, and the Doctor smiled at Amy's awestruck expression. "But that's… that's a…"

"It's an oxygen factory." River told her.

"It's a forest."

"Yeah, it's a forest, it's an oxygen factory."

"And, if we're lucky," the Doctor cut in. "An escape route."

"Isn't that eight." Daniel laughed, looking at the forest in awe.

"What did you say?" River frowned, Amy looked at Daniel in confusion.

"I said isn't that _great_ ," He playfully rolled his eyes before walking over to the Doctor. "Is there another exit?" he asked.

"Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there." The Doctor told Octavian.

"On it!" Octavian stepped into the forest. "Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels."

"But trees!" Amy breathed. "On a spaceship?"

"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees," the Doctor grinned, taking Amy by the hand. "You're going to love this," they stepped into the forest and opened up a part of the peat moss on a nearby tree to reveal circuitry, "Treeborgs...trees plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air," Amy's eyes widened and she laughed. "It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. It is an eco-pod running through the heart of the ship," Daniel smiled, but it quickly faded when he held a hand to his head, feeling another throb in his head. "A forest in a bottle, on a spaceship, in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond?"

"Seven." Daniel said, loud enough for the Doctor to hear him.

"What did you just say?" he turned to look at him, rushing to Daniel's side. "Did you just say seven?"

"No, I didn't." Daniel pulled a face, although there was a slight fear in his eyes.

"Yes, you did." River agreed, Amy nodding also.

"Doctor!" Octavian called, stepping into view. "There's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."

"Good, that's where we need to go." The Doctor nodded, examining Daniel.

"Plotting a safe path."

"Quick as you like!" the Doctor leant in close to Daniel, his eyes sweeping over Daniel's face as if trying to look for something.

"Doctor?" Bob's voice spoke from the radio. "Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir."

The Doctor took the radio and sat in one of the chairs. "Ah. There you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject."

"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve."

"Achieve? We're not achieving anything," he leant forward on the chair. "We're just hanging. It's nice in here, consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."

"Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?"

"We have no need of comfy chairs."

I made him say comfy chairs!" the Doctor turned to Daniel, grinning.

"Six." Daniel laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, well, enough chat," he quickly stood from the chair, the grin wiped from his face. "Here's what I want to know: what have you done to Daniel?"

"There is something in his eye." Bob replied.

"What's in his eye?"

" _We_ are."

"What's he talking about," Daniel frowned, walking up to the Doctor's side. "Doctor, I'm five," everyone stared at him and even now he realised what he had said. "I mean, five. Fine! I'm _fine_."

It made sense now, the sudden headaches in the last few minutes. He knew these headaches hadn't been like the one on the ship when he had somehow shattered the TV or even back on Starship UK, they we're _painful_ and often left him feeling weak, yet these ones just felt like he'd had his ear pressed to a loud speaker and turned to volume to the highest setting. It also explained how nothing strange happened around him.

"You're counting." River realised.

"Counting?" Daniel turned to her.

"You're counting down, you have been for a couple of minutes." The Doctor told him.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Well, counting down to what?"

"I don't know." The Doctor admitted.

"We shall take him and with his power we shall take all of you," Bob taunted them. "We shall have dominion over all time and space."

"Get a life, Bob," the Doctor sat back down, his voice firm unlike before when he had joked. "Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."

"With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand."

There was a loud, horrible screeching sound.

"Dear God, what is it?" River gasped.

"They're back." Octavian looked around, his grip on his gun tightening.

"It's hard to put it in your terms, Dr Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing." Bob explained.

"Laughing?" the Doctor asked Bob.

"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor and the Phoenix in the TARDIS hasn't noticed."

"What does he mean?" Daniel asked, slightly frightened that he had been referred to as Phoenix. It had been a while, not since Prisoner Zero had anyone called him that.

"No, wait, there's something, I've," he stood, turning slowly to see a glowing crack high in the wall. "Missed."

The Doctor ran to the back wall, climbing onto a piece of equipment and scanned the crack with the sonic. Amy and Daniel stood on the floor, Amy looking at the crack in fear and Daniel looked at in confusion.

"That's… that's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl." Amy gasped.

"Yes." The Doctor nodded.

"Ok, enough, we're moving out!" Octavian shouted.

"Agreed," River nodded. "Daniel? Doctor?"

"Yeah, fine!" he waved the off, scanning the crack with the sonic.

"What are you doing?" Daniel frowned.

"I'll be right with you." the Doctor told him.

"We're not leaving without you!"

"Oh," the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, you are. Bishop?"

Octavian nodded. "Miss Pond, Dr. Song, Mister Young now!"

River grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him into forest, but he struggled, fearing the worst. "Doctor, come on!"

"So, what are you?" the Doctor mumbled to himself, looking at the readings on his sonic. "Oh, that's bad. Ah, that's extremely very not good," he looked back to see he was now surrounded by Angels. "Do not blink," he reminded himself as he began to climb over the consoles to get past them when he cried out as an Angel grabbed him by the back of his jacket.

~DW~

Octavian and the clerics were walking through the forest, keeping River, Amy and Daniel safely in the center. Daniel began to slow and has a strange, almost sickly look on his face and he coughed quite violently. River turned, concerned.

"Daniel?" she walked over to him and gripped his arms. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

~DW~

"Why am I not dead then?" the Doctor asked himself, turning nervously and saw the Angels had their hands raised to the crack as if worshipping it. "Good, and not so good. Oh, this isn't even a little bit good. I mean, is that it? Is that the power that brought you here? That's pure time energy, you can't feed on that. That's the power, that's the fire at the end of the universe. I'll tell you something else…" he quickly shrugged himself out of his jacket. "Never let me talk!"

And with that, he ran into the forest, leaving his jacket in the hands of the Angels.

~DW~

"Daniel, what's wrong?" River questioned.

"F-four." Daniel laid down on a moss-covered rock, curling into himself.

"Med-scanner, now!" River cried, her eyes widening.

Amy's knelt by Daniel's side, rubbing his back as she watched River practically snatch the scanner from a cleric. "Dr. Song, we can't stay here," Octavian insisted. "We've got to keep moving."

"We wait for the Doctor." River placed the scanner on Daniel's arm, similar to a blood pressure monitor, before turning to give Octavian a dirty look.

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralize the Angels," Octavian reminded her. "Until that is achieved."

"Father Octavian, when the Doctor _and_ Daniel are in the room, your only mission is to keep them alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me. It's not easy. Now, if he's dead back there, he'll never forgive me, and if he's alive, I'll never forgive them. And…you're standing right behind me, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah." The Doctor grinned, but it quickly faded when he saw Daniel curled up.

"I hate you!" River turned to face him, her face a mixture of emotions.

"You don't," the Doctor stepped down from the hill he was stood on. "Bishop, the Angels are in the forest." He went to Daniel's side.

"We need visual contact on every line of approach." Octavian commanded.

"How did you get past them?" River asked.

"Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe." The Doctor shrugged.

"What was it?" Daniel mumbled, feeling weaker by the second.

"The end of the universe," he gently pushed Amy aside, kneeling on the ground close to Daniel's head. "Let's have a look then." He checked the med-scanner.

"So, what's wrong with him?" Amy asked, concerned for her friend.

"Nothing, he's fine." River tried to assure her.

"I'm dying." Daniel corrected, River and the Doctor staring at him in shock.

"Daniel!"

"You are not dying!" the Doctor muttered to him, placing a kiss to the side of Daniel's head. "I won't let you die!"

River looked at the scanner, watching as Daniel's pulse slowly began to fall. She tried to think of something, _anything_ Daniel could have told her in the future about this current moment… but there was nothing. "How's he dying?" Amy asked.

"There's something in his eye, what does that mean? Doesn't mean anything."

"Doctor." Daniel muttered softly.

"What?"

"Scared!"

"I know you are, but hang in there for me," he frowned as he tried to put together an idea. "What happened? He stared at the Angel, he looked into the eyes of an angel for too long…"

"Sir!" one cleric called. "Angel, incoming!"

"And here." Another cleric confirmed.

"Keep visual contact, do not let it move!" Octavian ordered.

"Come on, come on, wakey, wakey!" the Doctor began to pace, slapping the side of his head. "He watched an Angel climb out of the screen. He stared at the Angel and… and…"

"The image of an Angel is an Angel." Daniel reminded.

"A living image in a human mind," the Doctor realised. "We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink and that's exactly what they want, cos as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. There's an Angel in his mind." He gasped, putting a hand over his mouth.

River and Amy looked at Daniel in horror, and sure enough, the image on an Angel was in his eyes.

"Three, Doctor, it's coming. I can feel it…" Daniel clenched his fists, the room beginning to lightly shake around them. "I'm can't stop it!"

"No you're not!" he shook his head, determined. "Now counting, what's that about?" he picked up the radio, speaking into it. "Bob, why are they making him count?"

"To make him afraid, sir." Bob replied.

"Okay. But why. What for?"

"For fun, sir."

The Doctor growled in frustration and threw away the radio, running a hand through his hair as he looked at Daniel, the shaking progressively growing stronger. Amy had moved to Daniel's side once again, looking at the Doctor with wide eyes, as he waited for the man to make his next move. "Doctor, what's happening to him?" She frowned. "Explain!"

"Inside his head, in the vision centres of his brain, there's an Angel," he sat next to Amy, reaching out to take one of Daniel's clenched fists, rubbing the back of it. "It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind, and the Angel is climbing out of it, and it's coming to shut him off."

"Then what do I do?" Daniel asked.

"If it was a real screen, what would we do, we'd pull the plug, but we can't knock him out, the Angel would take over!"

"Then what!" Amy yelled. "Quickly!"

"We've got to shut down the vision centres of his brain, we've got to pull the plug, starve the Angel."

"Doctor, he's got seconds." River said, looking down at the scanner.

"How would you starve your lungs?" the Doctor turned to her.

"I'd stop breathing."

"Daniel, close your eyes!" the Doctor realised, turning to Daniel.

"No, no," he shook his head, tears in his eyes. "I don't want to."

"Good, because that's not you, that's the Angel inside you, it's afraid! Do it!" he grew frantic when Daniel continued to shake his head, and he practically yelled at him. "Close your eyes!"

Daniel hesitated but closed his eyes, the shaking room instantly stopped. The Doctor fell back on his hands, hearing the scanner beeping at a steady pace.

"He's normalising," she sighed, looking at the normal readings, all green and safe. "You did it! You did it!"

Amy let out a breath of relief, hugging Daniel gently.

"Sir?" a cleric called out. "Two more incoming."

"Three more over here." Another cleric called out.

River put away the scanner, reaching out to touch Daniel's arm. "Still weak, dangerous to move her."

With the help of Amy, Daniel sat up. "So, can I open my eyes now?"

The Doctor bent down before him, taking his hands. "Daniel, listen to me. If you open your eyes now for more than a second, you will _die_ ," he squeezed his hands, Daniel smiling slightly. "The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it, we've just sort of… paused it. You've used up your countdown, you can _not_ open your eyes."

Daniel blindly turned to look in the direction of River and despite the deadly situation he was in, he smirked playfully at her. "Is he being dramatic?"

River laughed slightly. "When isn't he?"

Daniel laughed, squeezing the Doctor's hands, and offered the alien a small smile. "Doctor," Octavian called. "We're too exposed here. We have to move on."

"We're exposed everywhere," the Doctor straightened, never taking his eyes off Daniel. "And Daniel can't move, and anyway, that's not the plan."

"There's a plan?" River asked.

"I don't know yet, I haven't finished talking. Right!" he clicked his fingers and pointed at Octavian. "Father, you and your clerics will stay here, look after Daniel," his eyes darkened as he looked at them, a very obvious threat in them. "If anything happens to him, I will hold each of you personally responsible," he turned to gesture between himself, River and Amy. "River and Amy, us three, we're going to find the Primary Flight Deck which is," he licked his finger and held it up to test the air. "A quarter mile straight ahead. We'll stabilise the wreckage, stop the Angels and cure Daniel."

"How?" Amy asked.

"I'll do a thing."

"What thing?"

"I don't know, it's a thing in progress!" he snapped at her, River put a hand on Amy's arm as if to tell her not to question him, she knew that whenever Daniel was in any form of danger the Doctor lost it. "Respect the thing. Moving out!" he kissed Daniel deeply, leaning his forehead against his. "I'll fix you, I promise."

"You better," Daniel whispered. "How else am I going to pilot save the TARDIS from your terrible piloting skills."

"Doctor, I'm coming with you," Octavian stepped forwards, interrupting the pair. "My clerics will look after Mister Young. These are my best men, they'd lay down their lives in his protection."

"I don't need you." The Doctor gave him a hard look.

"I don't care," he countered. "Where Dr. Song goes, I go."

River walked over to them, Amy behind her. "What?" the Doctor looked between him and River. "You two engaged or something?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. Marco, you're in charge till I get back."

"Sir!" Marco saluted.

"Can't we take Daniel with us?" Amy asked, looking over to Daniel, concerned about leaving Daniel behind.

"He'd only slow us down, Miss Pond." Octavian answered, stepping away.

"I can hear you." Daniel scoffed, crossing his arms, although there was a faint smile on his face.

The Doctor smiled slightly, kissing his cheek quickly. "He'll be safer here," the Doctor told Amy, although he didn't believe it. "I can't protect him on the move but I'll be back for him as soon as I can, I promise."

She wasn't sure if she was assuring her or himself, but she

With a final look over her shoulder at Daniel, the man blindly waving in their direction, Amy followed behind River only to bump into the Doctor, wearing his jacket. "Doctor?" she frowned, having sworn that the Doctor had been leading them.

"Amy," the Doctor nodded, a frown on his face. "You need to start trusting us, start trusting me, keep faith in Daniel but it's never been more important."

"But you don't always tell me the truth," she frowned. "Daniel tries sometimes but it's always like he's holding it back."

"Daniel's heart is always in the right place, but even he knows the truth is more frightening then most things."

"But the crack in my wall, how can it be here?" she shook her head.

"I don't know yet, but we're working it out," the Doctor admitted. "Now, listen. Remember what we told you when you were seven?"

"What did you tell me?" she tried to think back to when she was seven, when she first meet the two, but she couldn't remember anything in particular.

"No, no, that's not the point," he shook his head, reaching out to hug her briefly. "You have to remember." With a kiss on the head, he quickly walked past Amy and back towards where Daniel was.

"Remember what?" she frowned, about to follow him. "Doctor? Doctor?"

"Amy?" River stepped over to her, frowning slightly. "He's this way."

~DW~

Daniel was sat on the log, looking down at his hands, when he felt someone touch his cheek. "Doctor?" he frowned, swearing that he had walked off with River and Amy, but he reached up to touch the hand.

 _"I'm sorry_ ," the Doctor's voice whispered, making Daniel frown. _"I wish there was another way but I love you, I hope you'll remember that."_

Daniel's hand slipped off the Doctor's and as the hand was gone, as if it faded away. Daniel reached out blindly, having heard no footsteps, but it wasn't like the Doctor could fade away. There was something wrong but he wasn't sure what was wrong, but he knew he'd ask the Doctor when he saw him again.

~DW~

Amy frowned to herself as she walked with River, the woman had assure her that the Doctor had been leading them through the forest the whole time, but Amy _knew_ that she had spoken with him. She was about to walk up to the Doctor and question him but there was a beeping from the device the Doctor was holding.

"What's that?" River asked.

"Readings from a crack in a wall." The Doctor replied, checking the device

"How the crack from my bedroom wall be the end of the universe." Amy frowned.

"Here's what I think," the Doctor turned to look at her. "One day there'll be a very big bang, so big every moment in history, past and future, will crack."

"Is that possible?" River frowned. "How?"

"How can you be engaged in a manner of speaking?" he countered.

"Well… sucker for a man in uniform."

"Dr. Song is in my personal custody," Octavian walked over. "I released her from the Stormcage Containment Facility four days ago and I am legally responsible for her until she has accomplished her mission and earned her pardon. Just so we understand each other."

"You were in Stormcage?" the Doctor frowned, about to question her some more, when the device beeped once more.

"What?" Amy frowned, peering over his shoulder to look at the device. "What is that?"

"The date! The date of the explosion where the crack begins."

"And for those who can't read the base code of the universe?" River asked.

The date appeared on the device, Amy's eyes widening when she saw it. _26/06/2010_

"Amy's time." The Doctor breathed, his eyes wide also.

"My time?" Amy looked at him.

~DW~

Daniel sighed as he sat on the log, trying to make sense of the Doctor's sudden appearance. He'd gone through some ideas, none that would have made sense, but he had narrowed it down to being a clone of the Doctor or the Angel was playing tricks on his mind, wanting him to open his eyes. He had decided to believe the latter.

"Anything interesting happening out there boys?" Daniel called out, bored.

He so wished he could be with the Doctor, dealing with the problem head on, instead of sitting on the sidelines like a damsel in distress. He wanted to pace, but he was afraid of tripping over, he wanted to hum, but he was afraid it would distract or annoy the clerics.

With his eyes closed, Daniel missed the way Marco looked at him. In all honesty Marco couldn't believe he was put in charge of looking after the Phoenix, no Daniel as he had to remind himself, it was a mighty honour. He was surprised; however, that Daniel couldn't protect himself or even destroy the Angels considering all the stories he was raised up on but even soldiers had bad days so the Phoenix could have one too.

"The Angels are still grouping, sir," Marco informed him, the lights began to flicker above them. "Are you getting this too?"

"The trees?" a cleric called. "Yeah."

"What's wrong with the trees?" Daniel frowned.

"Here too, sir," another cleric called out. "They're ripping the Treeborgs apart."

"And here," the first cleric confirmed. "They're taking out the lights."

"What do you mean the lights are going out?" Daniel called out.

"It's the trees, sir," Marco stepped down to Daniel, gun aiming ahead of him. "The trees are going out."

"Something's coming." Daniel mumbled, standing up from the log and he blindly looked in one direction.

The Angels began to close in on them, using the flickering lights to move.

~DW~

Octavian was looking at the large door to the Primary Flight Deck, trying to find a way in, River stood guard with Amy, the two women looking around the forest in case any Angels would appear while the Doctor looked at the device as he read the readings, though his mind keep drifting back to Daniel.

He was regretting the decision of leaving Daniel behind, while Octavian had faith in his men, the Doctor did not. He should be the one to protect Daniel, he was better suited for it, he knew how to talk to Daniel, he knew what would frighten him and he most certainly knew that those soldiers were bound to make a mistake sooner or later he could _feel_ it in his bones. River was a smart woman, she could have probably led Octavian and Amy to the Flight Deck, while leaving him in charge of Daniel.

He was slowly growing irritated with everyone, he knew everyone was doing their best but he felt like he wanted everyone to work faster so he could save Daniel from the Angels and get the hell off this ship and planet. He'd have to take Daniel and Amy to somewhere safe, Daniel had always wanted to go to Disney World in Florida so maybe after this he could take them to Disney World but in _space_! Daniel would love it!

"It doesn't open it from here, but it's the Primary Flight Deck," Octavian huffed, walking to them, snapping the Doctor out of his plans. "This has got to be a service hatch or something."

"Hurry up and open it," River rolled her eyes, turning to look at him. "Time's running out."

The Doctor looked up, startled as a sudden theory came to him. "What? What did you say? Time's running out, is that what you said?"

"Yeah. I just meant..."

"I know what you meant, hush!" he snapped at her, the woman just rolled her eyes as if expecting this. "But what if it could?"

"What if what could?" Amy asked.

"Time," the Doctor explained. "What if _time_ could run out? Is that the question?"

"Got it!" Octavian called, having opened the hatch.

~DW~

"Angels advancing, sir." A fourth cleric called, stepping backwards until he reached Marco and Daniel.

"Over here, again." The second cleric called also, joining them.

"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet," Marco ordered. "Wait for it!"

Daniel frowned, looking in the direction of Marco's voice. "Bullets won't work on them," Daniel mumbled, not wanting the others to know. "We need something like a mirror."

He had remembered the Doctor talking about how the first time he had encountered the Angels, the only way to get them to stop existing was for them to look at themselves or in some form.

"Unless you can stop them yourself, sir, then bullets will have to do," Marco looked at Daniel, who frowned at the suggestion. "Keep your eyes shut!" he aimed his gun as the Angels appeared in the tree line. "Wait!" a bright light appeared behind them and spread. "The ship's not on fire, is it?"

"It can't be," the second cleric shook his head, turning to look at the light. "The compressors would have taken care of it," he turned back to the area he had been aimed at. "Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?"

"What, the Angel?" Daniel frowned.

"This side's clear too, sir." The third cleric reported.

"The Angels have gone?"

"There's still movement out there," Marco looked down at his handheld. "But away from us now. It's like they're running away."

"Running from what?" Daniel tensed, the Angel in his mind almost seemed… frightened of something. "Something's wrong, what if they've gone after the Doctor?"

"Philip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that." Marco ordered.

The two clerics headed towards the light.

"What are you all looking at?" Daniel turned to Marco. "What's out there?"

The two clerics disappeared behind some trees.

~DW~

"Cracks in time, time running out… no, couldn't be," the Doctor muttered. "How is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks? And she didn't recognize the Daleks!" Amy looked over, realising that he was talking about her. "Ok, time can shift. Time can change. Time can be _rewritten_."

~DW~

"It's like, I don't know…" Marco frowned, trying to find a way to explain the light to Daniel. "A curtain of energy, sort of shifting. Makes you feel weird, sick."

"It makes me feel stronger," Daniel admitted with a frown, unsure how it was possible. "And you think it scared the Angels?"

"What could scare those things?" the second cleric frowned.

"The Doctor said that the crack is the end of the universe, maybe they've realised that if they feed on it then it would destroy them."

"So that's why they ran?" Marco frowned.

"It's just a theory but I can feel it in my mind, the Angel's terrified of it," he tapped his temple. "It's trying to make me run."

"You can feel that, sir."

"Yeah, it's odd," he crossed his arms. "Have those two clerics come back yet?"

"What two?"

"The ones you sent out before."

"I didn't send anyone before."

"Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?" the second cleric asked.

"But be careful," Marco nodded. "If Daniel says the Angel is scared of it, there has to be a reason behind it."

"You did though, I heard you, it was…" Daniel trailed off, a sense of fear filling him.

He couldn't remember the names, hell it was lucky he remembered the two at all. But now, he had sent the other one away. Pedro, he'd have to remember that name.

~DW~

"Dr Song, Miss Pond, get through now," Octavian held out a hand for the women to be guided into the hatch. "Doctor?" he turned to look at the man. "Doctor?"

"Time can be unwritten." The Doctor mumbled, doing calculations in the air.

~DW~

"Daniel, there were never two others on this mission, I promise you." Marco assured him.

"No, I heard you," Daniel shook his head. "Before you sent Pedro, you sent two others, and you can't remember anything about them. Something happened. I don't know what, and we're beginning to forget!"

"Pedro?" Marco frowned.

"Yeah, you just sent Pedro."

"Who's Pedro?"

~DW~

"It's been happening and I haven't even noticed!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Doctor, we have to move!" Octavian turned to him.

"The Cyberking," the Doctor remembered. "A giant Cyberman walks over all of Victorian London and _no one_ remembers."

"We have to move it! The Angels could be here any second." he put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder but he shrugged it off.

"Never mind the Angels," the Doctor shook his head, "There's worse here than Angels!"

The lights went out a moment and he spun around to see an Angel with its arm around Octavian's neck.

"I beg to differ, sir." he groaned out.

The Doctor flashed the sonic at it. "Let him go!"

"Well, it can't let me go, sir, not while you're looking at it."

"I can't stop looking at it, it will kill you." the Doctor reminded him, putting away his sonic.

"It'll kill me anyway. There's no way out of this. You have to leave me!"

"Can't you wriggle out?"

"No, it's too tight. There's nothing you can do."

~DW~

"Something's happening!" Daniel exclaimed. "Pedro was here a second ago and now we're forgetting him!"

"There never was a Pedro," Marco tried to assure him once again. "There's only ever been the two of us here!"

"No, there were five of us… I think," he muttered the last part to himself. "Why can't we remember them?"

"Listen, listen," Marco placed his hands on Daniel shoulders. "I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close."

"No, you can't!" Daniel pleaded with him. "You mustn't!"

Marco reached out to hand Daniel he device he had been using to track the Angels movement, when he brushed against Daniel's fingers and he gasped, dropping the device to the floor. "What in the name of god." He gasped, jumping away from Daniel.

"What?" Daniel frowned. "What happened?"

"Pedro," Marco muttered, looking at the crack. "I remember Pedro."

Daniel almost cheered in relief. "How do you remember?"

"You."

"Me?"

"The power of the Phoenix is stronger then legends."

Daniel frowned.

~DW~

"Sir, there's _nothing_ you can do." Octavian insisted.

"You're dead if we leave you," the Doctor shook his head.

"Yes, yes, I'm dead. And before you go..."

"I'm _not_ going!"

"Listen to me. It's important! You can't trust her."

"Trust who?"

"River Song. You think you know her, but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is."

"Then tell me."

"I've told you more than I should. Now, please, you have to go. It's your duty to your friends, to _Daniel_."

"Then tell me why she was in Stormcage."

"She killed a man, a good man, a hero to many."

The Doctor tensed.

"Who?"

"You don't want to know, sir. You really don't."

"Who did she kill?"

"Sir, the Angels are coming. You have to leave me."

"You'll die!"

"Then I will die in the knowledge that my courage did not desert me at the end. For that, I thank God and bless the path that takes both you and the Phoenix to safety."

"I wish we'd known you better." The Doctor told him, truly meaning it, but he couldn't help but frown at the mention of Phoenix.

He'd worked it out that the prophecy told by the Ood and Carmen must have been something told throughout the known universe, he hadn't expected the church to believe the prophecy to be true… did that mean River could be possible for Daniel's death? He hoped not.

"I think, sir, you know me at my best."

"Ready?"

He closed his eyes, "Content."

With one final glare at the Angel, the Doctor ran for the hatch, closing it behind him and flashed the sonic at it. He looked around the Primary Flight Deck, a hard look on his face, as he looked at River who was stood by a console with Amy at her side.

"There's a teleport!" River told him, not looking at him. "If I can get it to work, we can beam the others here," she turned, noticing the hard look on his face. "Where's Octavian?"

"Octavian's dead," he told her, Amy gasped. "So is that teleport. You're wasting your time, I'm going to need your communicator."

~DW~

"You called me Phoenix?" Daniel turned to where Marco was probably stood. "Why?"

"It's not my place to say, sir." Marco looked away.

"I think it is," Daniel reached out to poke him in the chest, thankfully not missing. "I am getting fed up of being called 'the Phoenix' without anyone explaining it to me! So you will tell me, soldier, what you know."

Marco sighed, not sure how to explain it to Daniel, but thankfully the Doctor's voice spoke from the device on the floor. "Hello? Marco? Daniel?"

"Sir," Marco answered, picking up the device from the floor. "It's Marco and Daniel."

~DW~

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief, glad to hear Daniel was safe with a cleric, but he frowned. "Is it just you two?" he asked.

"Yes sir, just us two," Marco answered. "But there's something wrong with us, sir, we've forgotten."

River and Amy frowned at that. "Course you did." The Doctor admitted, having figured out what could happen.

"What is that light?" River asked.

"Time running out," the Doctor raised the device to speak into it. "I'm sorry, but I should have never left you there."

"What do we do now?" Daniel's voice asked.

"You come to us," the Doctor told him. "Primary Flight Deck, other end of the forest."

"But I can't see! I don't want Marco to suffer because I can't see."

"It's no problem, sir," Marco said, speaking to Daniel. "You made me remember Pedro, I won't allow any harm to come to you."

"I've sent a map of the fastest way to get to us," the Doctor informed them, scanning the device with his sonic. "Follow that."

~DW~

Marco looked down at the screen, seeing that there was a small map he could follow. "Thank you, sir," he said into the device before turning to Daniel, taking the man's arm lightly. "Stay close."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Daniel joked, put allowed himself to be pulled along.

~DW~

Thankfully Marco hadn't switched off the device's communication system, allowing them all to hear Daniel and Marco moving. "Doctor, what happened to Octavian?" Marco asked.

The Doctor sighed. "He's dead," he heard Marco mutter a small pray under his breath. "I am truly sorry Marco, there was no way to save him."

"Not your fault sir," Marco said after a moment. "It's the Angels."

"I have to ask," Daniel cut in gently. "But why don't we remember the other clerics?"

"The crack is spilling out time energy." The Doctor told him.

"But what does Time Energy do?"

"It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all."

"So the families of Pedro and the other clerics, they won't even remember that they've died?" Marco asked.

"Yes," the Doctor swallowed, knowing that Daniel was in danger of being erased. "Now, keep moving!"

"It's never going to work." River told him, softly.

"What else have you got!" he yelled at her, glaring. "River, tell me!"

How dare she tell him it wasn't going to work! It was Daniel out there, not Amy! If Amy was out there, maybe he would agree, but Daniel was stronger then Amy and that was what was going to see him through to the Flight Deck, even with Marco at his side.

River looked away, feeling embarrassed for doubting him or even Daniel's capabilities, having similar thoughts as the Doctor. Above them, the sound of whooshing and clanging caught there attentions.

"What's that?" Amy frowned.

"The Angels running from the fire," the Doctor told her. "They came here to feed on the time energy, now it's going to feed on _them_."

Over the device, they could hear that Marco and Daniel had picked up some speed. "Do you see anything?" Daniel asked Marco.

"Nothing yet," Marco replied. "But we need to hurry."

~DW~

According to the map, they were halfway there, but Marco could hear something moving around them. They stopped, Marco looking around the tree line hoping that he was just being paranoid.

"They're coming," Daniel breathed, feeling the Angel awaking in his mind. "Doctor, they're coming."

"Listen to me, this is going to be hard," the Doctor's voice began, his voice hard. "But I know you two can do it, the Angels are scared and running and right now," the lights flickered and three Angels appeared nearby, Marco immediately turning to look at them. "They're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in," three more Angels appeared by Daniel, the Marco turning on the spot to look at them as well. "All you've got to do is walk with your eyes on them at all time."

"That's a little hard when I can't see." Daniel scoffed.

"I'll help you," Marco moved behind Daniel, placing his hands on his shoulders, turning him gently to look at the Angels. "Keep walking and I'll keep turning you."

"Walk like you can see, they won't know the difference."

Daniel nodded, the duo taking baby steps forwards, as they both turned to look around. They had only walked a few inches away forward when more Angels appeared around them, Marco was already having a hard enough time trying to keep an eye on the ones before him and behind him.

"Sir, we're surrounded," Marco told them, Daniel tensing beneath his hands. "I can't keep looking at them all without blinking," there was no reply from the Doctor. "Doctor?"

"Just keep looking at them." Daniel told him, turning his head side to side in an attempt to trick the Angels.

The lights flickered above them once more and the Angels closed in on them, one was close to Daniel, reaching out for him, while another was coming at the side. Marco aimed his gun at them, ready to fire, when they were engulfed in a bright light.

~DW~

Daniel stumbled forward as he and Marco appeared in the Primary Flight Deck, the Doctor quickly reached out to hug him. "You're safe," the Doctor mumbled, Daniel let out a sigh of relief. "You're on the Flight Deck, River teleported you."

"See? Told you I could get it working." River smirked at him.

"Thank you, River."

"Anything for you sweetie." she smiled at him.

An alarm suddenly blared.

"What's that?" Amy asked, reaching out to give Daniel a small side hug.

"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means… the shield's going to release!" the Doctor pulled away from the hug, striding up to the shield as it revealed a large number of Angels. "Angel Bob, I presume." He eyed the Angel before him, holding a communicator.

"The Time Field is coming," Bob said. "It will destroy our reality."

"Yeah, and look at you, all running away. What can I do for you?"

"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that. But why? You put Daniel in danger."

"Your friends will be saved. Your lover will be saved."

"Well, there is that."

"I've travelled in time," River stepped up, ready to take the Doctor's place. "I'm a complicated space/time event, too. Throw me in."

"Oh, be serious," he snapped at her. "Compared to me, those Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip."

"Hold your horses there Doctor," Daniel frowned, releasing that the Doctor was _actually_ considering being thrown in. "I can't let you do that."

"No, seriously, get a grip."

"You're not going to die here!" River hissed at him.

"No, I mean it. River, Amy, get a grip."

"Oh," she breathed, realising his plan. "Oh, you genius!" she quickly ran over to Amy.

"Sir," Bob cut in. "the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now."

"Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship," the Doctor began to walk backwards, wrapping an arm around Daniel's waist as he guided him to the console. "Every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten here they're standing. You threatened the very life of my _boyfriend_ , and usually I'd show you some form of forgiveness, but not today," his voice was cold, harsher then Daniel had heard before. "Because today I think you've forgotten the gravity of the situation…"

"You hold on tight," River told Amy and Marco, placing Amy's hands onto a handle attached to a panel, Marco following suit. "And don't let go for anything." River quickly gripped one herself.

"You've forgotten the stories about me," the Doctor continued. "How far I'd go to protect those I love," his grip on Daniel's waist tightened slightly, as he glared at the Angels. "I want you to remember this, for the rest of time, now get lost."

The gravity failed and the Doctor turned to grip a handle himself, pulling Daniel close to him as he watched the Angels fall into the crack as the entire deck turned to its side and they all hanged on for dear life. The Doctor watched as there was a burst of light and the crack on the Secondary Flight Deck closed.

~DW~

Amy was sitting on a rock on the beach, a blanket wrapped around her while Daniel stood beside her and the Doctor stood behind Daniel, holding him from behind. Marco was off in the distance, reporting to some of the other clerics that had arrived.

"Ah, bruised everywhere." Amy grumbled.

"Us too," Daniel nodded, turning his head to try and look at the Doctor. "How are your hands?"

"Sore, but better now," the Doctor answered, resting his chin on Daniel's shoulder. "How about you."

"Better without the Angel in my head."

"How do we remember it all?" Amy looked up at them. "Daniel, you said you forgot about the names of the other clerics, but how can we remember them now?"

"We're time travellers now, Amy," the Doctor answered. "Changes the way you see the universe forever. Good, isn't it?"

"And the crack, is that gone too?"

"For now. But the explosion that caused it is still happening… somewhere out there, somewhere in time."

"How cryptic of you." Daniel laughed, he stopped laughing when he saw River looking at them, handcuffed.

Daniel stepped out of the Doctor's grip and walked to River, the Doctor following him. "Us and handcuffs," River held out her hands, smirking. "Must it always end this way?"

"What now?" the Doctor asked.

"The prison ship's in orbit, they'll beam me up any second," she told them. "I might have done enough to earn me a pardon this time. We'll see."

"Is it true?" Daniel sighed. "That you killed a man."

The Doctor had told him about Octavian's warning, told him about River being in Stormcage. He hadn't wanted to believe it, but seeing the woman in handcuffs was proof enough. He had been willing to trust River, but now with the apparent murder she's committed, could he trust her?

"Yes, I did," she nodded, frowning. "A good man, a very good man. The best man I've ever known, the only reason I'm in Stormcage is because someone showed me sympathy."

"Who?"

"It's a long story, Daniel, can't be told, it has to be lived," she sighed. "No sneak previews. Well, except for this one: you'll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens."

"The Pandorica, ha!" the Doctor laughed. "That's a fairytale."

She laughed also. "Oh, Doctor, aren't we all? I'll see you both there."

"We look forward to it." Daniel smiled, hugging River slightly.

The pair stepped back as Amy walked up. "Bye. River."

"See you, Amy," the handcuffs beeped. "Oh! I think that's my ride."

"Can we trust you River Song?" the Doctor asked.

"If you like, but where's the fun in that?" and with one final smirk, she was teleported away in a swirl of sand.

The Doctor sighed, turning to look out at the ocean. Daniel looked at the Doctor, reaching out to hold his hand. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

"Time can be rewritten."

And with that, the trio walked back to the TARDIS.

~DW~

The Doctor was at the console, putting in coordinates, while Daniel leant against one of the railings.

"I want to go home." Amy suddenly said from her spot on the jump seat.

"Ok." The Doctor said quietly, believing this to be his last time with Amy.

"No, not like that!" she assured him, joining him at the console. "I just… I just want to show you both something," she turned to look at Daniel. "We're all running from something, I think it's time I showed you what I'm running from."

The Doctor nodded, pulling a lever on the TARDIS, flying it to Amy's time. Once landed, Amy stepped out of the TARDIS.

"You follow her," the Doctor nodded to the doors. "I'll be out in a moment, just want to make sure the time energy hasn't affected the TARDIS."

Daniel frowned, but nodded, following Amy out. The Doctor waited a moment before he turned to the monitor, looking at a scan he had taken from Daniel without him noticing.

On the screen was a scan of his brain, the right side of his brain scan seemed normal, although some areas were red which could be explained to him recovering from the fear of the Angels… but on the left hand side, however, was entirely different. The entire left side of his brain was practically lit up like a Christmas tree, some areas were yellow and blue which meant normal brain activity, but most areas were a dark red as if on fire.

"Oh, Daniel." He mumbled to himself, the box humming around him as if to comfort him. "What's wrong with you?"

~DW~

Amy sat on the bed of her house and Daniel let out a low whistle as he looked at the wedding dress hang up in Amy's wardrobe. "Wow!" Daniel said, looking at Amy.

"Yeah!" Amy laughed.

"Congrats!"

"I know," she smiled at him. "This is the same night we left, yeah?"

He pulled out his phone, seeing the time on it. "Yeah, gone five minutes."

"I'm getting married in the morning." Amy leant over to her bedside table, pulling out a ring box, showing Daniel.

"Why did you leave it here?" Daniel asked, taking the box from her and looked at it.

"You mean why did I leave my engagement ring when I ran away with two strange men the night before my wedding?"

He had an idea as to why. "I think I have an idea," he closed the box and handed it back to her. "So who's the lucky guy."

"You've met him before."

"Oh, you mean the cute nurse?" he sat down beside Amy. "Oh what was his name?"

"Rory."

"Congrats Rory," she laughed before it died down, Daniel giving a look. "What's up? I don't think you wanted to show me the wedding dress."

"If you think you know why, why don't you tell me?"

"I think you planned to cheat on Rory with the Doctor," He bluntly said. "But you realised that after Starship UK that the Doctor didn't swing that way," Amy looked away, embarrassed to hear it aloud. "While I don't agree with your plan to cheat on Rory the day _before_ your wedding, I don't think you could help yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the Doctor is charming, funny and attractive. You're not the first to fall for the Doctor and you most certainly won't be the last."

"So your not mad, he's your boyfriend, you should be angry that I might have fancied him."

"So you don't fancy him?"

Amy sighed, pulling her knees to her chest. "Hear the Doctor speak to the Angels on the Flight Deck made me realise, actually, this whole trip made me realise that I don't stand a chance."

Daniel just patted her knees. "The Doctor and I might be in the early stages of our relationship, but the Doctor has loved and lost so many people in his life that he couldn't bare to lose anyone anymore," Daniel explained. "I think sometimes we forget how old he actually is."

"How old is he?"

"Around 900 years old."

"Blimey!"

"Yeah."

"And you're what, 27?"

"Yeah."

"That's a hell of an age gap," the pair laughed but Amy realised something. "Hang on, so that means that you'll…"

"I'll die years before the Doctor does," Amy nodded. "Yeah, it does, I think the Doctor hasn't thought about it like that."

"But you do?"

"Every night, Amy, even before I got with him I thought about it… about me dying and the Doctor moving on with someone else," he told her. "I'll grow old while the Doctor stays young, he might try and stop me from dying, but he's not a superhero."

Amy reached out to touch his arm. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I'm sorry you had to fall in love with an alien."

"I wouldn't of had it any other way," he put on a smile. "Why don't the Doctor and I find Rory and we give you a wedding present."

"A wedding present?"

"Yes, we'll take you to a safe planet and let the two of you run wild."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course, just don't let the Doctor pilot it."

The two laughed and quickly got off the bed, walking into the TARDIS. Daniel took one last look around the room, looking at the clock as it changed from 11:59 6/25 to 12:00 6/26.

He then looked over at the bedroom wall that once had the crack in it, almost feeling like something was going to happen, but he knew that the crack would remain shut yet… it was like he could feel the energy, making him strong once more. He shook his head and stepped inside.

A/N: And so our first two parter is completed. So there was no kiss between Amy and the Doctor, I don't think it would have worked in this story since the Doctor is in a relationship with a man and Amy would have clocked on that the Doctor wasn't interested in her like she was him. But instead, there's something wrong with Daniel's brain, what does that mean for him?

A note on reviews:

It has happened before, won't say when but I will say if something to do with Daniel's abilities happen it is often followed up with a headache, so keep an eye out on that. We'll learn more about why River wants to keep it a secret in the Pandorica Opens and even more in Series 6, we'll even learn more about the Phoenix in later episodes. I hadn't even though about a ship name for them, which is funny because I do that even before I write a story, but I thank you for branding them as Donny.

Up next is the Vampires of Venice. Which means Rory joins them in the TARDIS! What will Rory think of Amy running away with the travellers? How will the Doctor feel with another man onboard the TARDIS? What will happen? Find out next week!


	6. Vampires of Venice

Changes and Discoveries: Vampires of Venice

Disclaimer: see _The Eleventh Hour_

~DW~

"That's a terrible plan." Daniel frowned at the Doctor.

"No, it isn't."

" _Yes_ it is."

"Can we not pantomime this please?" Amy called from the jump seat.

She had told the Doctor everything, from the wedding tomorrow… well today if she thought about it to the reason why she had run away. She had expected the Doctor to be mad at her, for thinking that she could split up him and Daniel, but he just laughed and hugged her, telling her a quick story about Martha Jones and her attraction to the Doctor after he had lost Rose, which was his way of telling her that it had happened before and like Daniel had said, it was bound to happen again.

Right now, the trio were trying to figure out a way to get Rory away from his stag party. The Doctor's plan was to practically kidnap the poor man by materialising the TARDIS _on_ him and quickly flying away while Daniel wanted to take a more subtle approach to the situation. Daniel plan was to pull Rory to the side either before or after the man's stag party and invite him into the TARDIS.

"But pantomime's are good," the Doctor looked at her. "Gets the crowd involved!"

"While the situation at hand is a bit pantomime-esque," Daniel cut in, knowing the Doctor was bound the start chanting 'Oh, no your not!' at any point. "We aren't going to kidnap the man!"

"I don't think Rory would be very happy with that." Amy agreed with Daniel, having remembered the man telling his mates that he wanted nothing too over the top, and most defiantly being kidnapped by two men he hadn't seen in the last 2 years would either give him a heart attack or he might attack them.

"See, the fiancée knows!" Daniel smiled at Amy in thanks. "Maybe we should just wait."

The Doctor sighed, knowing the Daniel wasn't going to budge from his idea, so they waited. But the Doctor grinned, an idea coming to him as he quickly piloted the TARDIS, Daniel yelling at him to stop as he chased the Doctor out of the doors…

~DW~

…And that's how the Doctor and Daniel ended up inside a large pop out cake… again. They first turned up to another stag do not in Letchworth but in _Crydon_ of all places! The poor bloke had been beyond angry when the Doctor jumped out, Daniel and Amy had to drag the Doctor away before the man could chase them away.

It was a bit of a squeeze for both of them, but the Doctor was practically pressed against one wall and Daniel the other. The stripper was stood outside, wearing Daniel's oversized woolly jumper, as they had stolen the only thing keeping the bikini-clad woman warm.

"Out! Out! Out!" they heard men shouting.

Daniel nodded to the Doctor, who nodded back, as Daniel quickly sprung up from the cake, facing the doors before looking around a moment before spotting the shocked Rory. The men instantly fell quiet, clearly having expected a _woman_ to pop out. "Rory!" Daniel cheered. "Thank god it's the right cake," the Doctor wiggled up beside him, Rory's eyes widened at the duo. "Last time we'd ended up in the wrong cake at the wrong stag do because this dunce," the Doctor gave a small wave. "Got the coordinates wrong."

"Okay, let's not tell them everything," the Doctor cut in. "There's lovely girl outside in a oversized woolly jumper, could someone let her in, buy her something to eat. Lucy, lovely girl, diabetic," he looked at Rory. "Now, then, Rory, we need to talk about your fiancée, she ran away with us," everyone in the room gasped, Daniel slowly turned to look at the Doctor with a dumbfounded look on his face. "But then she decided that she wanted you along for the ride! So that's nice," someone dropped their glass as they all stared at him, he then noticed the look on Daniel's face. "Did it all go wrong?"

"Yes… yes it did."

~DW~

The Doctor was sat in a hanging harness under the TARDIS console, welding, while Daniel stood before the monitor, looking at the readings. Amy paced nervously as she looked at Rory, waiting for his reaction to all this. She had smacked the Doctor's arm quite hard when Daniel told her about his stupid confession.

"Oh! The life out there, it dazzles," the Doctor was saying. "I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans…" Rory looked down nervously as the TARDIS experiences a small explosion. "Oh! It's meant to do that."

"No it's bloody not," Daniel turned to look down at him through the glass floor. "And please stop talking."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and got back to work. "Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it _will_ tear you apart."

"So that's why we're taking you somewhere. Together." Daniel cut in, knowing the Doctor was bound to make this worse.

"Like on a date?" Rory frowned, finding his voice for the first time since stepping inside the TARDIS.

"Exactly like a date, anywhere you want, any time you want," Daniel continued, the Doctor walking up the steps to join them. "No matter what, it's up to you, you could go to the Moulin Rouge in 1890! Opening day at Walt Disney World! It's our wedding present to you, both of you," the Doctor walked up behind Daniel, hugging him from behind. "You'll need this, let me tell you that."

Rory just stared at them, stunned. "It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" the Doctor stepped away from Daniel, kissing him on the cheek quickly, before heading up a set of stairs. "Tiny box, _huge_ room inside. What's that about? Let me explain."

"It's another dimension." Rory stated.

"It's basically another dimen…" the Doctor began at the same time, stopping and heading down the stairs. "What?"

"After Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories," Rory shrugged. "FTL travel, parallel universes…"

Daniel laughed. "Oh, you're a clever man Rory Williams." Rory smiled slightly.

"I like the bit when someone says, 'it's bigger on the inside!'" the Doctor huffed, pouting slightly. "I always look forward to that."

"So, this date," Amy quickly cut in, sharing an amused look with Daniel. "I'm kind of done with running down corridors," she walked over to Rory and hooked her arm through his. "What do you think, Rory?"

"How about somewhere… romantic?" Daniel asked, pulling a leaver on the console.

~DW~

Daniel stepped out of the TARDIS with a wide grin, which quickly faded, as he looked out onto a busy market place. This was _not_ where he had planned on landing; in fact it was far from where he had hoped to be.

"Did you do something?" Daniel accused the Doctor, who had stepped out.

"Did what?" the Doctor frowned, before looking around the area. "Venice!"

"Well that can't be right," Daniel frowned to himself, turning to look at the box. "I was aiming for America not Italy."

"Venice!" the Doctor repeated, throwing his arms out, hearing Amy and Rory stepping out of the TARDIS. "Venezia! La Serenissima! Impossible city. Preposterous city!" Amy and Rory looked around, amazed. "Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding...constantly...just beautiful!" Daniel turned away from the box, offering Amy and Rory a smile. "Oh, you gotta love Venice. And so many people did. Byron, Napoleon, Casanova. Oh, that reminds me…" he checked his watch. "1580. That's alright. Casanova doesn't get born for 145 years," he glanced to Daniel. "Don't want to run into him. I owe him a chicken."

"You owe Casanova a chicken?" Rory frowned.

"It's a long story," Daniel cut in, knowing that the Doctor would go on for _hours_ ranting about Casanova, he should know he got the first earful. "He had a bet."

Before the Doctor could explain, a man dressed in black stepped out before them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Papers, if you please. Proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection."

The Doctor held up the psychic paper. "There you go, fella," the man took it. "All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find."

The man bowed deeply at Daniel. "I am so sorry, your Highness," Daniel frowned, giving the Doctor a confused look. "I didn't realise."

"No worries," Daniel waved it off, the Doctor quickly took the psychic paper back. "You were just doing your job," the man finally stopped bowing. "Sorry, what exactly is your job?"

"Checking for aliens," Daniel almost laughed. "Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them." The man explained.

"Oh, that's nice, see where you bring me?" Amy slapped the Doctor's arm, accusing him of somehow messing up the coordinates. "The plague!"

"Don't worry, Viscountess," he bowed to her and Amy sighed in relief. "No, we're under quarantine here, no one comes in, no one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri!" he pointed to the crest on the box he was carrying.

"I though the plague died out years ago." Daniel frowned, looking at the Doctor for confirmation, the man nodding.

"Not out there. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies, she said."

"Did she, now?" the Doctor hummed.

The Doctor and Daniel looked at each other, both of them getting the feeling something else was going on.

Rory took the psychic paper as the man walked off to question someone else while Daniel, Amy and the Doctor walked on. "According to this, I'm your eunuch!" Rory yelled.

"Oh, yeah, I'll explain later." Amy told him, falling back so she could walk by his side.

Daniel looked at the Doctor. "So, any ideas what we're missing?" he asked.

"Not sure yet," the Doctor looked around, the pair walking hand in hand. "Everything is normal, no building discrepancies or any major changes to say otherwise."

"But he said the plague was still out there. I may have failed history but I know the plague was long gone by at least the 15th century."

"It died out in 1348."

"So what… this Signora woman is spreading lies throughout all of Italy," Daniel mused. "But word must have gotten through to Italy, like through Raven or something?"

"Raven or something?" the Doctor repeated, amused.

"Shut up," Daniel nudged him, laughing. "But you get what I'm trying to say though, right?"

"Yeah, maybe we should visit this Signora."

They continued on until they reached a canal where many other people were gathered to watch something. They found a place to watch as a procession of girls all dressed in white dresses and veils walked past.

A black man ran up to the progression. "What do you want?" They heard a woman demand.

"Where's my Isabella?" the man cried as he lifted the girls' veils.

"What are you doing? Get away from there!"

He kept searching. "Isabella! Isabella!" he cheered, finding a girl who looked like him, clearly the two were related. "It's me!"

The girl back away from him and before he could drag her away, another girl stepped forward and hissed at him, two fangs in her mouth that had Daniel gasping in surprise. The man fell to the ground.

"Girls, come along!" the woman called.

The girls turned and continued their procession when a young man but his boot onto the man's chest, holding him to the floor. "She's gone." He smirked and walked away with a swirl of his cloak.

"Isabella!" two guards lifted the man from the floor. "It's me!" he struggled against them.

The Doctor and Daniel shared a look, before hurrying after the man, leaving Amy and Rory behind.

~DW~

The Doctor leapt onto the bottom step of the stairway the father had been walking, Daniel quickly making his way down the stairs. "Who were those girls?" he called to the man.

The father stopped and looked at them. "I though everyone knew about the Calvierri school."

"Our first day here," he stepped down as Daniel joined him. "Parents do all of sorts of things to get their children into good schools. They move house, they change religion," he lowered his voice into a whisper. "So why are you trying to get her out?"

"Something happened in there… something magical, something _evil_. My own daughter didn't recognise me. And the girl who pushed me away, her face… like an animal."

Daniel stepped forward, putting an arm around the man's shoulder. "I think it's time we met this Signora Calvierri."

"We?" the man frowned, looking at Daniel.

"Yes, we," Daniel smiled at him. "The Doctor and Daniel, at your service."

"Guido." He introduced himself.

~DW~

Guido approached the guards of the Calvierri school, while Daniel and the Doctor stood off to the side, waiting to move.

"You have my daughter!" Guido yelled at them. "Isabella!"

You're not coming in, stop there!" one of the guards threatened, "We've told you..."

With the guards distracted Daniel and the Doctor quickly sneaked along the side, Guido watching them in the corner of his eye. "You have my daughter. Isabella! I demand you let me see my daughter."

The Doctor pulled out the sonic and flashed the gate, opening it.

"Isabella! It's me! It's your father."

"I'll arrest you..." the guard stepped towards him.

"Isabella!" he watched as the Doctor and Daniel snuck inside and made it through a doorway before turning to leave.

They made their way down some stone steps into a chamber. "I still think we should have waited for Amy and Rory." Daniel whispered, looking around the chamber.

"They'll be fine," the Doctor waved it off. "This is a date for them, remember, as long as they're away from us, they'll be fine."

Daniel could only hope he was right, but nodded away, walking into the center of the chamber, squinting through the darkness at linked corridor. The Doctor stepped over to one of the walls, looking at Daniel through the reflection. "Hello, handsome." He called to Daniel.

He laughed and turned to say something but his eyes widened. "Doctor!" he called and he ran over to the Doctor as a group of girls dressed in white were stood behind him.

"Who are you?" the girls asked.

The Doctor spun round to face them, then back at the mirror and then back at them again. Daniel caught a quick glance into the mirror and could only himself and the Doctor… no girls were visible.

"How are you doing that?" Daniel frowned.

"We… are… loving it!" the Doctor grinned at them, missing Daniel shaking his head. "You're like Houdini, only five scary girls, only he was shorter. Will _be_ shorter. I'm rambling."

"I'll ask you again, signors," the girls all spoke at once. "Who are you?"

"Why don't you check _this_ out?" the Doctor held out his wallet.

The girls just titled their heads and Daniel to it from the Doctor. "Why did you need a library card?" Daniel asked, showing the Doctor the ID card with his first incarnation on it.

He took it from Daniel, examining it. "Of course, it's with…" he realised.

"Rory."

"He's…"

"With Amy," Daniel sighed. "Told you we should have waited for them."

"I need the spare," he took Daniel's hand, as they looked at the girls again. "Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen in it…" he looked at Daniel. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"But that's impossible." Daniel breathed, looking at the mirror and back at the girls.

"But the city. Why shut down the city? Unless…"

"Leave now or we shall call for the steward… if you are lucky." The girls warned them.

"Ooh!" they started to back away as the girls hissed and bared their fangs, advancing. He moved Daniel to run ahead of him, they ran back to the doorway and stairs. He stopped and spun to face the girls. "Tell me the whole plan," they just kept advancing, "One day that might work…"

"It really won't." Daniel cut in.

"Listen, we'd love to stay here."

"Speak for yourself."

"This whole thing… I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!"

Daniel grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him up the stairs and out into the streets, the girls hissing at them.

They ran across the canal when they almost crashed into Amy.

"Doctor!" she yelled. "Daniel!"

"We just met some vampires!" the Doctor told her, grinning.

"We just saw a vampire!" Amy spoke and then they both started talking at once, voices overlapping.

"And creepy girls and everything." He nodded.

"Vampires!" Amy cheered and they jumped up and down excitedly when Rory ran up.

"We think we just saw a vampire." Rory breathed.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," the Doctor nodded, "Amy was just telling us."

"Yeah!" Amy grinned, "The Doctor and Daniel actually went to their house."

"Oh…" Rory nodded, "Right. Well..."

"Ok, so..." the Doctor slapped Rory's cheeks lightly. "First, we need to get back in there."

"What?" Both Rory and Daniel exclaimed.

"How do we do that?" Amy asked.

"Back in where?" Rory frowned.

"Come and meet our new friend." the Doctor hoped his arm through Daniel's and they walked off.

~DW~

They sat in Guido's house later that night with a map of Venice laid out on a table. The Doctor and Amy were looking over it as Daniel looked out of a window, Rory sat in the back on some barrels.

"As you saw, there's no clear way in," Guido remarked, "The house of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor."

"You need someone on the inside." Amy said.

"No." Both the Doctor and Daniel said, looking at her.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"We pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in." the Doctor stated.

"Oh. So you know what I was going to say!"

"Are you insane?" Rory frowned at her.

"We don't have another option."

"They said no, Amy. Listen to them."

"There is another option," Guido pointed in Rory direction. "I work at the Arsenale. We build warships for the navy."

The Doctor sniffed the barrels. "Gunpowder," he put a hand on Rory's shoulder. "Most people just nick stationery from where they work," Rory slid off the barrel slowly and back away into a hanging dead rabbit. "Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosive."

"Then what do you suggest, then?" Guido frowned at him. "We wait until they turn her into an animal?" he turned away and poked the fire.

"I'll be there three, four hours tops." Amy insisted.

"No, no, no, no, no, no," the Doctor sighed. "It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go," he sat back on a bed against the wall, his head in his hands before sitting back, "But we have to know. We go together. Say you're my daughter."

"What?" Rory shook his head. "Don't listen to him!"

"Your daughter," Amy laughed. "You look about nine."

"Brother, then." The Doctor suggested.

"Daniel!" Rory turned to look at Daniel. "Tell them to stop!"

Daniel sighed, looking away from Rory. "I don't think I can." He told him.

"Too weird," Amy shook her head, oblivious to Daniel and Rory. "Fiancé."

"I am not having him run around telling people he's your fiancé." Rory frowned.

"No, no, you're right."

"Thank you."

"I mean, they've already seen the Doctor and Daniel," she turned to him. "You should do it."

"Me?"

"Yeah! You can be my fiancé." she kissed his cheek.

Daniel smiled at the interaction and walked over to the Doctor, sitting beside him.

"This whole thing is mental!" Rory exclaimed, though he was smiling slightly. "They're _vampires_ , for god's sake."

"We hope." The Doctor corrected.

"So, if they're not vampires…" Daniel frowned.

"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire?"

~DW~

The Doctor, Rory and Daniel sat in Guido's gondola as the man, now dressed in Rory's clothes, guided them along the canal towards the school. "She'll be fine." Daniel assured Rory, sensing the man's concern.

"You can promise me that, can you?" he snapped at Daniel, before sighing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

Daniel just smiled and shook his head. "You have every right to snap, your fiancé is in danger of vampires. So really, I don't mind."

"But how can you be so sure?"

Rory glanced over at the Doctor, who was pretending to not be listening, before looking at Daniel. There was something different about Daniel compared to the Doctor, not that he could point out why, since it was the second time they had met.

"The Doctor has had many companions like Amy in the past. While I don't know much about them, they've all come across through stories as these brave, capable women who have saved the Doctor either from something or from himself on multiple occasions. The Doctor wouldn't send Amy out there if he didn't believe her to be able to keep herself safe."

"But what happened to all these companions?"

"They all left, living lives on Earth," Daniel nodded. "They're always doing something for modern Earth, keeping it safe if the Doctor's not around or if they can control the threat themselves. They keep proving to the world that they can do the Doctor's job just as good as he could… so trust me when I say she'll be fine."

Rory smiled, still fearful for Amy but he had to trust her and the Doctor's decision.

The Doctor reached behind him, placing a hand on Daniel's arm, smiling. Daniel just reached up to pat his hand. The gondola stopped.

"We're here." Guido told them.

The Doctor grabbed a lit torch off the wall as he stepped out, opening the creaking gate as Rory and Daniel followed.

"Right. Ok, I'll go first," the Doctor said. "If anything happens to me, go back…"

"Like hell I will." Daniel cut in.

"Did something happen?" Rory suddenly asked. "Between you and Amy? Is that why she ran away with you?"

They stopped just outside a wooden door. "NOW?! You want to do this NOW?!" The Doctor exclaimed, stepping through the door.

"I have a right to know," Rory followed them. "I'm getting married in 430 years."

They continued through a narrow passage, the only light coming from the Doctor's torch. "Amy explained to us," Daniel began. "That when she met us, back in Leadworth, that the whole Prisoner Zero experience opened her eyes to a whole other world outside of Leadworth, even Earth," he hesitated, remembering that Amy had confirmed his theory as to why she ran away, but he knew Rory deserved to know the truth. "But when you travel with the Doctor, you end up falling in love with something whether it be the adventures, the species… or the Doctor himself."

"So she fell in love with the Doctor." Rory realised.

"At one point it was," Daniel corrected him. "Maybe in the back of her mind she had fallen in love with the Doctor, but after our adventure to Starship UK she realised that her feelings weren't returned and never could be returned."

"I find that hard to believe." He scoffed, knowing how many people in Leadworth had fallen for Amy over the years.

"You best believe it Rory, because the Doctor can promise you that he doesn't have any feelings for her other then friendship."

"It's true," the Doctor spoke for the first time since Daniel had been talking. "Amy is my friend, nothing more nothing less," he stopped to look at Rory over his shoulder. "I'm already with someone."

"Who?" Rory frowned.

"Me," Daniel waved, laughing slightly as he laced his hand with the Doctor's free hand. "The Doctor and I are together, Amy knew this and moved on, thinking about you," Rory looked between them, surprised. "She kept telling us she had something planned for today, I think she was going to tell us sooner then later."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think if it hadn't been for River Song and the Angels, then maybe she would have told us that very day."

Before Rory could question them even further a strong gust of wind blew down the corridor, blowing out the torch. "Can we go and see the vampires now, please?" the Doctor whispered.

~DW~

The Doctor pushed open the grate of the well open and climbed out, using Rory as a ladder. "Push," he whispered, scrambling out before reaching in and helping Rory out, the pair helping Daniel out as well. "Come on. There we are." he kissed Daniel on the cheek before looking around.

"Amy!" Daniel quietly called out, squinting in the dark. "Where's Amy? I can't see a thing."

"Just as well I brought this, then." Rory pulled out a small pencil torch, shining it around the area.

Only for the Doctor to pull out a large, long torch from under his jacket. "Ultraviolet," he told the amused Daniel and the frowning Rory. "Portable sunlight."

"Yours is bigger than mine."

"Let's not go there." The Doctor said, walking off in one direction.

"If we cancel now, we lose the deposit on the village hall, the salsa band," Rory was muttering to himself, having taken Daniel's talk about Amy falling in love with the adventure as a sign of their wedding being cancelled but he jumped slightly when he heard Daniel let out a small yell, seeing that Daniel had opened a chest near a wall with a skeleton inside. "What happen to them?"

"They've had all the moisture taken out of them." The Doctor informed, examining the skeleton.

"That's what vampires do, right?" Rory walked over to them. "They drink your blood and replace it with their own."

"Yeah, except they haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water in their bodies."

"Why did they die?" Daniel asked, although he had an idea, "Why aren't they like the girls in the school?"

"Maybe not everyone survives the process." The Doctor sighed.

Rory walked away in frustration then stopped, pointing at the Doctor. "You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you want them to impress you," he accused him. "Has Daniel had to prove himself to you? Is this what you've done to Amy? Do you have any idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around?"

"Who are you?" the girls asked as one, appearing in an archway of their own.

The Doctor held the ultraviolet light up to them as they got closer. "We should run. Run!" he pushed Daniel forward, who grabbed Rory and they ran from the courtyard.

They continued to run down one of the corridors until they came to a halt before three people, a woman and two men. "Cab for Amy Pond?" the Doctor called out.

Daniel spun around, moving Rory between him and the Doctor as the girls approached from the other end of the corridor, blocking them.

"This rescue plan, not exactly watertight, is it?" the woman asked.

The Doctor brandished the light to hold back the girls. "Ha-ha!" they all flinched back.

Amy, followed by Isabella, ran into the corridor from an intersecting hall. "Rory!" Amy said, relieved.

"Amy!" Rory quickly hugged her.

"Quickly, through here!" Isabella shouted, running back the way they came followed by the group, the girls following.

"They're not vampires!" Amy told them as they ran.

"What?" the Doctor flashed the sonic at a door, opening it for them to run through, before shutting it.

"I saw them, I saw her. they're not vampires. They're aliens!"

"Classic!" the Doctor chuckled.

"That's _good_ news?! What is wrong with you people?!" Rory shook his head.

"You have no idea." Daniel laughed.

The Doctor urged them down the passage. "Come on, move!" they ran off, the Doctor brandished the ultraviolet light as a weapon as the man with the cloak and the girls caught up with them. "Keep moving! Come on, guys." They ran on, the girls now following on their own.

Isabella opened a door and ushered them out, down the stairs to the canal where Guido was waiting.

"Quickly!" she yelled at them. "Get out. Quick!" she went to follow but stopped in the sunlight, putting her hands to block her eyes.

"Oh," the Doctor ran to help her. "Come on, run!"

"I can't!"

They watched as Isabella was dragged back inside, the girls closing the doors. The Doctor pounded on the door and fell to the floor once the door was electrified. Rory, Amy and Daniel ran to his side to check on him.

"Is he dead?" Amy asked.

"No," Daniel answered, knowing what he would do if he was dead or dying. "He's breathing."

Daniel put a hand to the Doctor cheek, rubbing his thumb against it while Amy looked over at Guido, who looked down at the ground, knowing he'd never see his daughter again.

~DW~

The Signora walked into her throne room only to find the Doctor sat on her throne, one leg crossed over the other. While Daniel hadn't joined him, he was stood outside waiting for the Doctor to leave. He had about 10 minutes before Daniel came storming in.

"Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you?" the Doctor asked. "Sister of the Water?"

She eyed him. "No, let me guess. The owner of the psychic paper. Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?"

"I'll make you a deal," he cut in. "An answer for an answer," Rosanna nodded. "You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank...hence no reflection."

"Your question?"

"Why can we see your big teeth?"

The Signora laughed. "Self-preservation over-rides the mirage. The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain."

"Where's Isabella?"

"My turn. Where are you from?"

"Gallifrey."

"You should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum."

"Why are you here?"

"We ran from the Silence. Why are you here?"

"Wedding present," he shrugged. "The Silence?"

"There were cracks. Some were tiny...some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence...and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us...and Saturnyne was lost."

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark II?"

"And you can help me. We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?"

"I'm taken," he grinned at her before walking over to her, whispering. "Where's Isabella?"

"Isabella?" she frowned.

"The girl who saved us."

"Oh, deserters must be executed. Any general will tell you that. I need an answer, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you?" he almost laughed, ready to mock her slightly. "I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children."

"Carlo!" she shouted and the man ran in, "You're right," she told him. "We're nothing alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while YOU philosophize."

"This ends today," he told her. "We will tear down the house of Calvierri, stone by stone," Carlo moved to grab him but he smacked his hand away. "Take your hands off me, Carlo," he threatened, he turned and walked to the door, stopping for a moment. "And you know why this will end? You didn't know Isabella's name."

And with that, he turned and walked out.

"Open the gates!" Carlo called from the window as he strode past the guards and out to the paths along the canal where Daniel stood waiting.

~DW~

The Doctor was examining the bites on Amy's neck with the sonic, having just informed them about his conversation with Signora. Daniel was stood at the end of the table, a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to make sense of everything.

"You're fine, open wide," he told Amy, popping a sweet into her mouth, before shouting frustration as he paced. "I need to think. Come on brain, think, think. Think!" he sat at the table with a huff. "Think!"

"If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun." Amy commented, speaking around the sweet.

He put his hand over her mouth. "Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush."

"It's the school thing I don't understand." Rory added.

He put his other hand over Rory's mouth. "Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush."

"I say we take the fight to them!" Guido called, slamming his hand on the table.

"Ah, ah, ah!" the Doctor looked at him.

"What?"

"Ah!" he nodded at Rory, who rolled his eyes and placed his hand over Guido's mouth, then he looked at Daniel. "What's up?"

"Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time, ending up here," Daniel began to pace, think aloud. "Then she closes off the city and, one by one, changes girls into creatures like her to start a whole new breed, it get that but what are we missing." He leant on the table, looking at the Doctor.

"They come from the sea, they can't survive forever on land, so what's she going to do?" The Doctor continued.

"Well, she'll have to make the city habitable."

"She said 'I shall bend the heavens to save my race'"

"Bend the heavens," Daniel frowned. "Bend… the heavens…"

"She's going to sink Venice." The Doctor breathed.

"She's," Guido pulled Rory's hand from his mouth. "She's going to sink Venice?"

"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." He nodded.

You can't repopulate somewhere with just women," Rory shook his head, "You need...blokes."

"She's got blokes." Amy told them.

"Where?" Daniel looked at her.

"In the canal. She said, 'There are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water.'"

"Only the male offspring survived the journey here." The Doctor nodded.

"So she's got 10,000 children swimming in the canals, waiting for Mummy to make them some girlfriends," Daniel snorted. "There desperate… then there's _that_ desperate."

There was a loud clatter from the floor above, they all look up at the ceiling.

"The people upstairs are very noisy." The Doctor commented.

"There aren't any people upstairs." Guido told them, tensing.

"I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?"

Wood creaked as if someone was walking across the floor, Rory following the creaking with his head. "Is it the vampires?" he asked.

"Like I said, they're not vampires," the Doctor corrected him. "Fish from space."

There was a thump and the sound of glass breaking as the converted girls entered the room, Daniel looked at the window so see some of the girls floating at them. The Doctor brandished the ultraviolet light as Guido crossed himself.

"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory gaped.

The girls at the window break the glass and the Doctor used the light to keep them back. Using his free hand, he flashed the sonic at them, showing their true forms.

"What's happened to them?" Guido gasped.

"There's nothing left of them," the Doctor frowned. "They've been fully converted. Blimey," he eyed them, "Fish from space have never been so...buxom. Ok!" he switched off the sonic. "Move. Come on."

They ran down the stairs, Amy and Rory first, Daniel and the Doctor hurrying them down as Guido followed behind.

"Give me the lamp!" Guido grabbed it, flashing behind him to stop the girls from following the group as they ran outside.

"Go, go, go, guys!" the Doctor shouted as Amy and Rory ran out. "Keep moving, go, go, go!"

Guido stopped at the door, looking at the group before closing it, locking them out. "Stay away from the door!"

"No! Guido!" Daniel ran back to the door, pounding on it. "What are you doing?! We're not leaving you! What are you doing?!" he turned to the Doctor. "Do something!" the Doctor flashed the sonic on the door, yelling in frustration when it didn't work. "Guido!"

The Doctor gasped loudly when he realised what Guido was planning and pulled Daniel away from the house. They ran, getting thrown to the ground as the house exploded behind them.

They quickly got to their feet and looked back at the destroyed house as Amy and Rory ran over to them, they could hear people screaming in the distance.

"Rosanna's initiating the final phase." The Doctor realised.

"We need to stop her!" Daniel declared. "Come on!"

"No, no," the Doctor shook his head. "Get back to the TARDIS."

"Like hell I will! You can't stop her on your own."

"You need to get Amy and Rory to safety," the Doctor kissed Daniel quickly. "With all this chaos, they're bound to get lost."

Daniel hesitated, looking at the duo before sighing. "Be safe." He quickly ran off, pulling Amy.

"Thank you." Rory told him before running after them.

"Yeah… you're welcome." He ran off in the direction of the school.

~DW~

Daniel, Amy and Rory ran out on the opposite side of the canal from the school, looking out at the sky.

"Oh, my god!" Amy gasped. "What is going on?"

"The sky, it's like it's boiling." Rory said.

Daniel glanced over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at Francesco who was watching them. "We need to leave. Now!" he pulled them ahead of them.

~DW~

The Doctor ran into the Calvierri throne room, walking straight to the chair, pulling off the back to reveal alien circuitry. The Doctor pulled out the sonic and started to try to short circuit it.

"You're too late," Rosanna called, entering the room, "Such determination...just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and the woman who made it all possible. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom."

"The girls have gone, Rosanna," the Doctor told her.

"You're lying."

"Shouldn't I be dead?" he countered, the Signora walked away as she realised he was right. "Rosanna, please, help me," the Doctor called, "There are 200,000 people in this city."

"So save them." she spat, leaving.

~DW~

Daniel, Amy and Rory made their way through the streets but were blocked by a wet Francesco. Rory picked up some candlesticks and held them up in the form of a cross.

"Amy, run!" Rory called to her, but the man swiped the candlesticks away and moved towards Amy.

"Oi! Fish face! " Daniel called. "Rory, get Amy and run!" Rory ran to Amy and pulled her away, Francesco moved to follow. "Hey! I'm not done with you! You're mothers got the face only a son could love!"

Francesco stopped in his advance on Amy, turning to glare at Daniel. "Did you say something about Mummy?"

Daniel just nodded, smirking. "Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Francesco pulled out his sword, the smirk instantly wiped from Daniel's face. Amy and Rory ran back to see Francesco advance on Daniel, the duo watched as Daniel backed away slowly. Amy and Rory prepared to run in and do something, watched in confusion as the sword stopped mid swing at Daniel.

Daniel, also confused, winced slightly as he felt a slight headache begin. He realised what he could do, he wasn't as defenceless as Francesco had thought. Francesco tried to swing again, but Daniel flicked his hand to the side causing him to over miss and almost lose his footing.

Francesco growled at him and swung faster this time, Daniel barely able to stop both attempt but knocked the blade away from him. Daniel winced as his head pounded, but he continued his attempts to defend himself.

"We need to do something." Amy whispered to Rory, the man nodding.

Rory grabbed a broom and quickly ran behind Francesco, smacking the man in the legs. He fell to his knees, turning to glare at Rory but was quickly punched in the jaw by Daniel. "You reek of fish." Daniel complained, shaking his hand.

Francesco recovered quickly, Daniel pulled Rory behind him as they backed into another courtyard. "I hate telekinesis." He glared at them, rubbing his jaw.

"Yeah, well I hate fish aliens." Daniel countered.

Francesco lunged at them again, Rory blocking his swing with the broom while Daniel knocked him back slightly. "How are you doing that?" Rory asked him.

"Not sure," Daniel admitted. "It's almost like a fight or flight sort of thing, only seems to happen when in danger."

Amy stood at the stairway behind them, watching the duo. It was like something out of a superhero movie, Daniel knocking him away with telekinesis and Rory swinging at him with the broom…

However the illusion ended when Rory tripped and fell backwards. Francesco smirked and leaped through the air, changing forms in midair, as Rory prepared for the alien to land on him… but it never happened. He rolled over to see Daniel, hands held out and on one knee, holding the alien in place, his concern grew when he saw the fine line of sweat on his brow and how his hands trembled, as if he was physically hold the alien in the air.

"Hey!" Amy called, reaching into her pocket. "Mummy's boy." She held up a compact mirror and reflected the sunlight at him, causing him to explode.

Daniel fell forwards onto his hands, dry heaving slightly before lying on his back, the feeling of nausea passing. "That was incredible," Amy ran down the stairs, helping Daniel sit up. "How did you do that?" she turned her attention to Rory, who had joined them. "And you, you did incredible."

She leant over to kiss him passionately, Rory pulled away grinning dopily before he looked down at Daniel. "Can you walk?" He asked him.

Daniel nodded, pushing himself up. He staggered slightly but got his bearings quickly. "We need to help the Doctor." He told them.

"I think we need to get you back to the TARDIS." Rory told him.

"I'll be fine," Daniel assured him. "We can worry about me later."

He walked off back in the direction of the school, Amy and Rory sharing a look before following.

~DW~

the Doctor ran to look out from the balcony onto the city below. The bell tolled and he headed inside.

~DW~

Daniel, Rory and Amy ran through the streets and sneaked through the gate, the guards distracted, and they ran into the throne room. "Get out!" the Doctor yelled as he entered through the main doors. "I need to stabilise the storm."

They watched as he ran to the throne.

"We're not leaving you." Rory told him.

"Right," the Doctor scoffed, walking towards them, "So one minute it's, 'You make people a danger to themselves,' the next it's, 'We're not leaving you!' But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets..."

The ground shook, throwing them to the floor as some of the ceiling started to fall around them.

"What was that?" Rory looked up.

"Nothing," the Doctor said, standing. "Bit of an earthquake."

"An earthquake?" Amy shook her head.

"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes," he shrugged, facing the chair. "But don't worry about them."

"Really?" Daniel frowned, feeling like the Doctor was going to add something stupid.

"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake."

"Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program," he told them. "So you three need to tear out every single wire and circuit in it. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything," he checked the wiring. "We need it to shut down and reroute the control to the secondary hub, which will also be the generator for the storm."

And with that he ran out of the room.

~DW~

The Doctor worked on the wires that connected the control in the throne room to the device that created the storms. He ran up closer the tolling bells, holding his hands over his ears.

~DW~

Daniel was sat on the floor, having been ordered by Rory to get some rest at least, watching Amy and Rory pull wires out of the throne, the throne sparking.

~DW~

The Doctor held the clapper on one of the bells. "Shut up!" the Doctor shouted, "Shut up," he sighed as it stilled. "That's better!"

He jumped down and tugged on one of the cables but it didn't budge. He then climbed up onto the rail, gripping the column as the rain poured down. He slipped, regaining his balance, and began to climb.

~DW~

Daniel, Amy and Rory ran into the courtyard looking up.

"There he is!" Rory pointed at the Doctor.

"I'm going to kill that man." Daniel muttered under his breath.

~DW~

The Doctor climbed to the top using the cable and reached the giant sphere at the pinnacle.

~DW~

"Come on!" Daniel mumbled.

~DW~

He opened the sphere to reveal the device that is creating the storm. He began to examine how to stop it.

~DW~

"Come on!" Rory and Amy breathed. "Come on!"

~DW~

He flicked a simple toggle switch and the rain immediately stopped, the clouds clearing as the birds began to sing.

~DW~

Daniel, Rory and Amy looked around before laughing and hugging each other.

~DW~

The Doctor closed the sphere and looked down at the street with a little wave.

"You did it!" Rory called up to him, his arm around Daniel's shoulder and Amy's waist.

~DW~

The Signora, still in her human form, walked on a small platform extending over the canal to the edge of the water, standing there in her white under dress when the Doctor ran out.

"Rosanna!" he shouted.

"One city to save an entire species," she muttered. "Was that so much to ask?"

He slowly approached her. "We told you, you can't go back and change time. You mourn but you live. I know, Rosanna, I did it."

She just turned to look at him, "Tell me, Doctor...can your conscience carry the weight of another dead race? Remember us. Dream of us."

And she fell into the water, which bubbled in the way a kettle would boil as the aliens attacked her. Their last meal.

"No..." the Doctor lunged forward. "No!"

But it was too late.

~DW~

The group walked through the marketplace, which was being cleaned up by the townsfolk, as they headed back to the TARDIS.

"Now, then, what about you two, eh?" the Doctor smiled, his hand in Daniel's. "Next stop Leadworth Register Office? Maybe I can give you away."

"I've always said I'd be a flower girl at someone's wedding," Daniel joked, thought there was some truth there. "Can I do that for you?"

"It's fine," Rory sighed. "Drop me back where you found me, I'll just say you've…"

"Stay with us!" Amy cut in, taking his hands. "Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."

Rory looked at the Doctor and Daniel, to see what they had to say. "Fine with us." Daniel smiled at him.

"Yeah?" Rory asked, the Doctor nodding his head. "Yes, I would like that."

"Nice one," Amy kissed Rory. "I will pop the kettle on," she unlocked the TARDIS door, stepping into the doorway, looking at Daniel. "Hey look at us, got our spaceship, got our boys," Daniel laughed. "My work here is done." She stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

Rory scoffed with a look at the Doctor, "We are not their boys."

"Come again?" Daniel smirked at the Doctor.

"Yeah, we are," the Doctor told Rory, kissing Daniel quickly.

Rory only sighed, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, we are." He stepped into the TARDIS.

Daniel and the Doctor shared a smile about to step into the TARDIS, when the Doctor stopped. "What is it?" Daniel asked, looking at him.

"Listen." The Doctor told him.

Daniel listened, frowning. The marketplace had been loud, full of people seconds ago… now there was nothing, not even the birds made any noise. "Silence," he mumbled. "Just silence."

The Doctor remembered the Signora's words, how she had seen silence through the cracks… it meant nothing good.

~DW~

Daniel stepped into the console room, tying a dressing gown around himself. He had been awoken to the TARDIS humming and then the door to his bedroom had opened, obviously the TARDIS wanted him to get out of his room.

"Do you ever sleep?" Daniel asked the Doctor, who was leaning against the console.

"I don't need sleep," the Doctor told him, offering him a smile. "But it's late, you need sleep."

"I think the TARDIS disagrees with you on that," he saw how the console room brightened slightly, as if telling him that the Doctor was lying. "When was the last time you ever slept?"

"I only ever take power naps, I've got a lot on my mind that I can't get to sleep easily," he said. "Plus I've been working on a way to track these cracks, so I can't stop."

"Then take a break," Daniel stepped up to his side. "The cracks are in space and time, they'll still be there if the Doctor goes to sleep."

"I don't even have a room." The Doctor tried again, but the TARDIS hummed loudly around them.

"Then sleep with me."

The Doctor choked on air. "W-what?!"

"Not like that!" Daniel blushed. "Sleep with me in _my_ room, if you don't have a room then sleep in mine."

"But what about you?"

"I'll just sleep on a chair, maybe even the floor."

"No," the Doctor shook his head. "it's your bed, you sleep on the bed, _I'll_ sleep on the floor."

"Why don't we just share the bed?" Daniel shrugged. "You get one half and I get the other."

The Doctor smiled slightly, the TARDIS hummed in encouragement. "One night." he stated.

"That's all I want." Daniel smiled, seeing that the Doctor was slowly coming around to the idea.

And with that, the couple walked out of the console room and into Daniel's bedroom. The door closing behind them, neither of them having to touch it.

A/N: Daniel finally addressed his abilities and Francesco has sort of labelled it, but there are more layers to it then just Telekinesis. We also see another side effect to his abilities, other then headaches, so that will come up again with Rory in the future.

This episode was a bit of a challenge, since most of the Amy/Rory scenes had to be changed or rewritten but mostly it trying to explain to Rory that while she had loved the Doctor, she's moved on.

A Note on Reviews:

Thank you, I'm glad you like the progress on the Phoenix plot. I was torn between it being similar to the Silence in series 5 but it becomes bigger in series 6 but with everything that I have planned for Daniel and the Phoenix plot, it had to begin to progress in this series. I can't make any promises if they will be alright, because I'm not a nice person!

Since Amy has made her choice with Rory, the next chapter will be called One Man's Dream…! I can't say much about it, other then it will be like Amy's Choice but different… does that make sense? Probably not. Find out next week!


	7. One Man's Dream

A/N: I AM SO SORRY! It's been too long for this chapter, and I am deeply sorry. Life is a bitch but now I'm back for good, eager to continue writing Daniel and complete this series. Since I've been gone the new series of Doctor Who has aired and I've got to say I love Jodie, she's like a mix between Smith and Tennant, and I already have a plan for that series which is terrible because I need to complete the six other series to get to that point… but until then, let's get this show rerunning.

Disclaimer: see _The Eleventh Hour_

Changes and Discoveries: One Man's Dream…

~DW~

Amy and Rory ran out of the small cottage to watch as the TARDIS materialised onto her flower bed, they watched as the Doctor stepped out, deep bags under his eyes looking like he hadn't slept in years.

"Rory, Amy." The Doctor greeted them, his voice almost void of emotion.

It had been five years; well five years for them, since the incident. Neither of them spoke of it, the wound still fresh in their minds… that had been the day the Doctor had let them go, not wanting them to suffer because of him.

"Doctor." Rory smiled, happy to see the man but concerned at the same time.

"I've crushed your flowers." The Doctor tried to joke.

"I'll replant them," Amy assured him, happy to see the man. "Just glad to see you again."

"We both are." Rory assured him, wrapping his arm around Amy's shoulder.

There was a faint noise from within the cottage, the Doctor couldn't quite make out what it was but Amy was quickly making her way inside. "Look at you both," the Doctor sighed. "Five years later and you haven't changed at all, all happy and in love with each other."

He was bitter, he shouldn't be bitter, but he couldn't help himself. He should've been the one happy five years later, not wishing his companions hadn't stayed together since… since… he couldn't even say it to himself. Life in the TARDIS had been quite these last five years for him, the TARDIS had stopped communicating with him and without Daniel… things were dark for him.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet," Amy stepped out of the cottage, holding a small boy, around 3 years old, in her arms with tuffs of red hair. "This is Daniel Pond."

The Doctor was nearly in tears, hesitantly stepping over to the boy. Five years ago, to this very day, Daniel Young had died saving them from the Daleks. The abilities Daniel had hidden from him had killed him, but the Doctor blamed himself. He should have known the brain scan he had taken from Daniel after the Byzantium had meant something more then the after affects of the Angel's possession… yet how could he. Daniel had never said anything to him about these abilities, never even shown any signs of having some sort ability. Amy and Rory had told him how Daniel had destroyed the TV during the Byzantium and during the fight between Francesco how Daniel had managed to hold the man in his true form in mid air. Marco had even come forward, telling the Doctor what the Church knew of the Phoenix, he'd even gone to River to ask her if she knew anything more.

She hadn't told him anything different, instead telling him that it was Daniel's place to tell him, not hers or anyone else's. But did that mean that the Doctor blamed his former companions for the death of Daniel, no he didn't. He blamed himself.

Amy handed the Doctor her son, gently telling him how to hold him correctly, before stepping to Rory's side to watch them. Daniel would have hated it, having a baby named after him, he would have hated it. But she felt like she owed him something, he had saved her life on multiple occasions and even brought her and Rory closer, so they would always remember him.

~DW~

The Doctor and Rory walked on either side of Amy, who was pushing baby Daniel down the village lane. Amy peered over the stroller to look down at the unusually quiet Daniel, who had been looking over at the Doctor with an unusual look on his face… it was like Daniel recognised the alien. It had sense, Amy tried to rationalise, they had photos of the Doctor scattered around the house so maybe Daniel had noticed the bowtie or even the very obviously parked TARDIS that had undoubtedly caught his attention.

"Ah, Leadworth," the Doctor looked around the area. "Vibrant as ever."

"It's Upper Leadworth, actually," Rory corrected him. "We've gone slightly up market."

"Where is everyone?"

"It's nice," Amy shrugged. "We thought it'd be a nice place for Daniel to grow up."

"Plus loads of people here live well into their 90s." Rory added also.

"Well, don't let that get you down." The Doctor remarked, looking around the area as if looking for something.

"It's not getting us down." Amy told him.

The three of them sat on a bench in a cul-de-sac, Amy turning the buggy to face them she rolled the buggy with her foot, keeping Daniel moving.

"I wanted to see how you were," the Doctor told them. "I've been going around, seeing old friends, one last hurrah I suppose," Rory and Amy shared a look. "I'll be out of your hair soon."

"Is that the only reason you came to visit?" Amy asked him, eying him.

The Doctor hesitated. "Yeah, just came from visiting Sarah Jane, you were next on the list, just got one last place to visit after you, then I'll be off," he told them, offering them a thin smile, Amy opened her mouth to say something but the Doctor quickly spoke. "But this bench is nice, such a nice bench. What will they think of next?"

The three of them sat there, in an awkward silence, as no one knew what to say. Amy sat there, looking at the Doctor with a thoughtful look on her face, as if she was trying to figure out something.

"So," the Doctor broke the silence. "What do you do around here to stave off the, you know…"

"Boredom?" Amy asked.

"Self harm."

"We relax," Rory told him. "We take care of Dan and we listen to birds."

"Yeah, Daniel and the birds. They keep us busy." Amy nodded.

"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days."

The birdsong became louder. "Oh, blimey, my head's a bit, ohh…" the Doctor held a hand to his head and sat back up. "No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsongs back when…" he began to drift off. "Daniel was around…"

The trio began to fall asleep on the bench while baby Daniel just watched them.

~DW~

The Doctor frowned as he woke up on the floor of the TARDIS, his hearts pounding as he remembered the dream… no, the nightmare he just had. "Daniel!" he called out, hoping that it had only been a nightmare. "Daniel!" Amy and Rory ran into the console room. "Have either of you two seen Daniel?"

Amy and Rory shook their heads, although they had an idea as to why. "We haven't," Amy answered, shaking her head. "I'm sure he's here somewhere."

As if on que, Daniel stepped out from one of the corridors dressed in faded blue jeans, a white vest with a red plaid shirt tied around his waist and an apple in his hand. "I'm right here," Daniel frowned, putting the apple aside for the moment, his attention on the Doctor. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor ran at him, pulling him into a hug. "Thank god you're here," he whispered in his ear, peppering his face with kisses. "I had a terrible nightmare about you… that was scary," Daniel stepped back slightly, about to question him, when the Doctor quickly put a finger to his lips. "Don't ask, you don't want to know."

"Oh, ok," Daniel frowned, trying to look at Amy and Rory in confusion, but once the Doctor stepped away they both pulled him into a hug. "You guys two?"

The Doctor wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, looking at the console and frowned slightly. "Red flashing lights… I bet they mean something." He didn't care, just glad to be out of the nightmare, glad that Daniel hadn't died.

"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing." Rory admitted to them, stepping out of the hug.

"Yeah," Amy nodded, her arm interlocked with Daniel's. "So did I."

"Not a nightmare, though," Rory glanced to Amy, surprised. "Just… we were married."

"Yeah, in a little village."

Daniel looked between the trio, who looked at each other in surprise. "Hang on, did I miss something?" he asked them.

"We lived in a sweet little village," Rory began to explain to Daniel. "Amy and I… we had a kid."

"Yeah, we named it after you." Amy told him.

"So what," Daniel eyed them all. "You three had the exact same dream?"

"It's possible." The Doctor nodded.

"And where was I in this dream?" Daniel had to ask, too curious for his own good. "You're acting like I wasn't there with you," they went silent. "Oh," he breathed. "I wasn't there."

Well that explained why the Doctor was freaking out but he didn't know why. While he had some idea as to why they all ended in the same place… death. Daniel knew he wouldn't be around forever, whether it be because of being a human life span or because the whole Phoenix prophecy came true, but he knew that. But like Daniel had told Amy only weeks ago the Doctor hadn't thought about it.

"You said it was a nightmare." Rory reminded the Doctor.

"One man's dream is another man's nightmare," Daniel cut in. "That's how the saying goes."

"Look it doesn't matter," the Doctor shook his head. "We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track or Daniel's cooking has given us some major food poisoning," Daniel rolled his eyes at that just as the birdsong started once again. "Forget it, we're back to reality now."

He hoped.

"Doctor, if we're back to reality how come I can still hear birds?" Amy asked, holding her head as the birdsong grew louder.

"What birdsong?" Daniel frowned, eying the woman.

"Yeah, the same birds," Rory nodded. "The same ones we heard in the…"

And they fell forward, the Doctor caught a glimpse of Daniel holding an arm out at Amy and Rory and the other was aimed at him.

~DW~

They woke up on the bench, Rory and the Doctor had their heads pressed together.

"… dream," Rory jumped back from the Doctor in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry. Nodded off, stupid," he turned his attention to baby Daniel, who had his foot in his mouth, and gently removed the foot from his mouth. "I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS," the Doctor got up and looked Rory looked over to Amy, who was looking at him in surprise. "You had the same dream, didn't you?"

Amy nodded. "Back in the TARDIS. Weren't we just saying the same thing?"

"But we thought this was the dream."

The Doctor picked up a small stone from the path, examining it, and threw it back to the ground.

"I think so," Amy stood. "Why do dreams fade so quickly?"

"Doctor," Rory walked over to the Doctor, pulling the buggy with him. "What is going on?"

"Is this because of you?" Amy joined them. "Is this some Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"

"Listen to me," the Doctor turned to them. "Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear, or feel,"

"But were awake now." Rory shook his head.

"You thought you were awake on the TARDIS too."

"But we're home." Amy told him, looking around.

"Yeah. You're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards… or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one."

~DW~

The Doctor was the first one to wake up, pushing himself up off the floor into a sitting position to watch as Daniel was stood by a lever, straining as he tried to move it down. "What is the matter with you?!" Daniel yelled at the rotor. "We need to land somewhere and you won't get us out of here!"

He let out a groan as the lever didn't budge at all, rubbing his hands as he stepped away from the console. The Doctor was up on his feet, taking Daniel hands and gently rubbed them. Behind them, Amy woke up in the jump seat with a gasp.

"I don't like this," the Doctor frowned as he looked to the console. "I don't like this one bit."

"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked, rubbing her eyes.

The Doctor kissed Daniel's palms before running down the stairs to look under the console. "I threw it in a supernova." He told Amy.

"You threw the manual in a supernova?" she deadpanned. "Why?"

"Because he's a child," Daniel joked. "And if it doesn't say what he wants it to say, he'll just chuck it away."

"Oi!" the Doctor called from underneath.

"Ok, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us three to dream about the future?" Rory frowned.

While Amy and Rory could agree that the future they were seeing was actually quite normal and lovely, they both could agree that the future where Daniel dies wasn't the ideal. They'd want Daniel to visit them, have a part in their child's future… it just felt wrong.

"If we were dreaming of the future…" the Doctor joined them back upstairs, hoping that it wasn't the future.

"Of course we were. We were in Leadworth." Amy frowned.

"Upper Leadworth." Rory reminded.

"Yeah and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this, living that future," the Doctor's voice was cold, everyone but Daniel knowing the reason why. "Don't you get it?"

"No, okay, no this is real. I'm definitely awake now." Amy nodded.

"And you thought you were awake when you were all motherly."

"I am a mother."

"And this could all be a dream while you give birth," the Doctor suggested. "I told you, trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true." He walked over to the console.

Amy, Rory and Daniel shared a look. "Ok, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside." Rory began, the trio walking towards him.

"With a bow tie wearing alien." Amy continued.

"Who is currently in a relationship with a human male," Daniel finished with a laugh. "So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple."

"Valid point," the TARDIS powered down, leaving them in virtual darkness, the only light coming from the console. "It's dead," the Doctor breathed, pulling a lever. "We're in a dead time machine."

The TARDIS grew darker as the birdsong returned, Rory took Amy into his arms while the Doctor did the same with Daniel. "Don't leave me." Daniel muttered to the Doctor, for once feeling less than safe in the TARDIS.

"I'll try not to," he quickly kissed Daniel and stepped away, looking at his companions. "Remember, this is real, but when we wake up in the other place, remember how this feels."

"It is real," Amy insisted. "I know it's real."

Daniel could only watch, helpless, as the trio sunk to the ground.

~DW~

The Doctor stood in the middle of the road as a group of school children passed by. Amy and Rory woke up on a bench outside the library, the stroller locked into place by Amy.

"Ok," Amy stood. "This is the real one, definitely this one," she looked over to the stroller, looking at the sleeping Daniel. "It's all real."

"It felt solid in the TARDIS too," the Doctor reminded her. "You can't spot a dream while you're having it." He waved his fingers in front of his face.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked.

"Looking for motion blur, pixilation," the Doctor told him. "It could be a computer simulation… I don't think so, though."

"Hello, doctor." An old woman greeted them as she passed.

"Hi." The Doctor politely smiled, as he looked around the area for any visible glitches or anything similar.

"Hello." Rory gave a small wave.

The woman paused to look at the Doctor before walking on.

"You're a doctor?" the Doctor turned to Rory.

"Yeah, and unlike you, I've actually passed some exams." He grinned, proud.

"A doctor, not a nurse, just like you've always dreamed. How interesting." He eyed Rory before walking off.

"What is it?" Rory asked, following.

"Your dream wife, your dream job, your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream."

"It's Amy's dream too," Rory turned to Amy. "Isn't it, Amy?"

"Yeah," Amy nodded, meaning it. "Just without the whole Daniel thing."

The Doctor nodded, glad that Amy was sure of her future with Rory and glad that even if this was her future that she would want Daniel around for it in some Capacity.

"What's that?" the Doctor pointed over his shoulder at the building behind him.

"Old people's home."

They looked at the building as some of the residents stood in the windows, looking back at them.

"You said everyone here lives to their 90s. There's something here that doesn't make sense… let's go and poke it with a stick!" he ran off towards the building, Rory following with a groan.

"Hang on!" Amy called after them, trying to push the buggy as gently as she could while chasing them. "I've got a sleeping toddler I'd rather not wake up!"

They ran into the building, Amy using the elevator as she stepped into the lounge where some of the residents were sitting around, relaxing.

"Oh, hello, Dr. Williams." One of residents greeted Rory with a smile.

"Hello, Rory, love," An old woman looked up at him, setting down her knitting. "And you finally brought the babe." Her attention was drawn to the sleeping Daniel.

"Hello, Mrs. Poggit," Rory smiled at her. "How's your hip?"

"A bit stiff," Mrs. Poggit then smiled at Amy. "Hello Amelia."

"It's Amy, Mrs. Poggit." Amy politely corrected her.

"Oh, easy," the Doctor walked over to her. "D-96 compound, plus," he stopped himself. "No, you don't have that yet, forget that."

"Who's your friend?" she eyed him. "A junior doctor?"

Rory smirked. "Yes."

"Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson."

The Doctor knelt down before her as she put a jumper over his head. "Slightly keen to move on, freak psychic schism to sort out," he leant forward, forcing the woman to sit back. "You're incredibly old, aren't you?" he eyed her.

The residents looked on as the birdsong began, the three of them falling to the floor.

~DW~

The three of them woke up leaning against the console, Daniel now missing from the room.

The tree of them woke up leaning against the console, Daniel now missing.

"Ok, I hate this," Amy grumbled, rubbing her arms. "Stop this. Because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?"

The Doctor ran up to the upper level. "It's bloody cold." Rory complained, rubbing his arms.

"The heating's off." The Doctor waved them off, trying to see if he could spot Daniel down a corridor, knowing it wasn't safe to be wondering through a dead TARDIS.

"The heating's off?"

"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do."

"Yes, sorry about Mrs. Poggit. She's so lovely though."

The Doctor frowned to himself as he looked down to his companions. "Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you."

"What do you mean 'act?'" Amy frowned.

"Everything's off, sensors, core power, we're drifting" the Doctor began to explain, quickly walking over to the console. "The scanner's down so we can't even see out, we could be anywhere," he looked to Amy and Rory, a serious look on his face. "Someone, something, is overriding my controls."

There was a slow clap from behind them, they turned to see Daniel stepping out from the top of the stairs. "Well, that took you a while," Daniel sighed, an unimpressed look on his face. "Honestly, you'd think for the Last of the Time Lords, my lover; that he would have worked it out much quicker."

"Daniel?" the Doctor frowned, eying him closely.

This Daniel wore blacked ripped skinny jeans, a white t-shirt that was longer at the back, and a familiar pair of converse, which was a total change from the lighter colours he had been wearing before. But the thing that caught the Doctor's eye was how Daniel's usual brown eyes were gone and in place were almost black except for the flecks of red and amber, giving the illusion of fire.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "My name isn't Daniel, honestly why would I choose such a boring name," he stepped down the steps, stopping at the bottom one. "I've had so many names but today I'll crack out an oldie but a goodie, the Dream Lord.

"Doctor," Amy frowned up at Daniel, no the Dream Lord. "Why is that Dream Lord Daniel?"

Instead of answering the Doctor took a pen from his pocket and threw it at the Dream Lord, who sighed as the object smacked him in the chest. "That's a bit rude don't you think?" the Dream Lord rolled his eyes. "Not answering your companions when they ask you a question," when the Doctor didn't answer, the Dream Lord stepped over to Amy. "I'm like a chameleon, I choose a face you could all trust without noticing I would have chosen your parents Amelia, but the dead tend to scare those around."

"I'll do the talking, thank you," the Doctor cut in, glaring at the Dream Lord as he approached Amy, the girl looked close to tears. "Want to take a guess, Amy? Rory?"

"Um," it was Rory who spoke up. "Dream Lord, he creates dreams." He suggested.

"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks." The Doctor added.

"Well lookie here, old beaky finally got a clue," the Dream Lord scoffed. "Took you long enough."

"Where's Daniel?" the Doctor glared.

"Oh Daniel's locked up here somewhere," the Dream Lord tapped his forehead. "Safe for now, but I wouldn't count on that for long."

"Then let him go, he's only human."

"Oh he's the _best_ human, isn't he? Able to charm an army with a single smile," the Dream Lord smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes like Daniel's did. "And so _powerful_ , so much power waiting to be released…"

"What do you want?" the Doctor cut in.

"To play a little game of course," the Dream Lord walked to the upper level. "So, here's our little game. Two worlds. Here in your time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger. But only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep," he watched as the trio fell to the floor, asleep. "Oh, or are you waking up?"

~DW~

They woke up in a now empty lounge, all of the residents missing.

"Oh, this is bad," the Dream Lord entered, now wearing a black trench coat. "This is very, very bad," he held up an x-ray into the light. "Look at this x-ray. Your brain is completely see though. But then again, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."

"Always? What do you mean, always?" Amy asked.

"Now then, the prognosis is this," he watched as the Doctor moved to sit in Mrs. Poggit's chair. "If you die in the dream you wake in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?"

"What happens?" Rory frowned.

"You die, stupid," the Dream Lord rolled his eyes. "That's why it's called reality."

"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy questioned him, sure now that Daniel was possessed by something. "Do you know him? Doctor, does he?"

"Down girl, don't start getting jealous. He's been around, poor little Daniel knows that better then you. Never mind that. you've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take tow and call me in the morning," they watched as he walked to the door, the Dream Lord looking at the Doctor over his shoulder. "Oh, and get rid of the jumper it doesn't suit you." And they watched as he walked out the door, vanishing as he stepped away.

"Ok, I don't like him." Rory grumbled.

Amy crossed her arms, turning to the Doctor. "Who is he?"

"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged. "It's a big universe."

"Why is he doing this? And what happened to Daniel?"

"Daniel has been possessed by something, it doesn't have a physical so it took over Daniel," the Doctor suggested, running a hand down his face as he tried to process everything that had happened. "Which means it's powerful enough to break mental blocks."

Amy and Rory shared a look with each other, knowing that if Daniel was possessed did that mean his abilities were in control of the being? They had seen it stop the pen in the TARDIS… but if that was the dream then they'd brush it off as the Dream Lord manipulating the dream.

"What does he mean, deadly danger?" Rory asked. "Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously."

The Doctor stood and removed the jumper, throwing onto the chair as he suddenly realised something. "They've all gone," he breathed, spinning on the spot to look around the room. "They've all gone!"

The Doctor ran out of the room, Amy and Rory following him out as he ran out onto the road, looking over to where children were playing in a park while a teacher watched over them.

"Why would they leave?" Rory frowned.

"And what did you mean about Mrs. Poggit's act?" Amy asked, bouncing the still sleeping Daniel.

"One of my tawdry quirks, sniffing out things that aren't what they seem. So come on, let's think," the Doctor began. "The mechanics of this split we're stuck in… time asleep matches time in our world, unlike in conventional dreams."

"And we're dreaming the same dream at the same time." Rory nodded along.

"Yes, sort of communal trance, very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway. But my mind isn't working because this village is so dull and Daniel's not here! I'm slowing down, like you tow have."

"Oi!" Amy cried, giving the Doctor an annoyed look. "We had to slow down because we had a baby!"

"A baby who is still fast asleep," the Doctor realised, stepping over to him. "How is he still asleep?"

"He does that sometime." Rory assured him. "I'd say he gained Amy's ability to sleep through anything."

"I don't sleep through anything." Amy laughed, following the Doctor as walked into the park.

"Yeah, you do."

The Doctor saw Mrs. Poggit heading for the ruins of a castle while Amy headed for the swings and sat down on one, Rory took the one next to her before the Doctor got a chance.

"Why Daniel?" Amy asked.

"Like the Dream Lord said, we trust him," the Doctor sighed. "I love him with all my hearts and you both trust him, had I not said anything about something being in the TARDIS then the Dream Lord would have played us like a fiddle."

"Do you think Daniel is alright?" Rory asked, concerned for his friend.

"The Dream Lord better hope so, because if not then he'll have hell to pay," the Doctor threatened, sighing as he looked over at Mrs. Poggit. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs. Poggit as a babysitter," Mrs. Poggit turned and watched the Doctor. "What's she doing? What does she want?"

The birdsong began again.

"Oh, no, here we go." Amy groaned.

~DW~

The Doctor was stood at the console as Amy and Rory joined him.

"It's really cold," Amy complained, rubbing her arms. "Have you got any warm clothing?"

"What does it matter if we're cold?" the Doctor snapped, "We have to know what she is up to!" he sighed, rubbing his face. "Sorry. Sorry. There should be some stuff down there, have a look." He pointed to another

Amy turned and moved to the chest down where the Doctor had pointed to as the Doctor moved to the space under the space the console and looked around. He looked at a box with a crank and pulled it, the crank fell off and the box opened, showing a number of gadgets inside. He quickly assembled a gadget just as Amy and Rory came back, with an armful of blankets.

The Doctor handed the gadget to Rory. "Ah, Rory, wind," and then gave Amy a wire connected to it. "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please."

"I was promised amazing worlds," Rory sighed. "Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitchen windup device."

"It's a generator," the Doctor told him. "Get winding."

"It's not enough." Amy said from the monitor.

"Rory, wind." the Doctor called.

"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?" Rory asked as he wound faster. "Why us?"

The monitor flickered to life, revealing a starscape, Amy frowned, looking at it. "Where are we?"

"We're in trouble." the Doctor breathed.

"What is that?" Rory asked.

"A star, a cold star," the Doctor began as he walked over to the door and opened it. A blinding light shown through it. "That's why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun." He closed the door and looked at a larger monitor on the wall.

"This must be the dream," Amy shook her head. "There is no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn."

"So's this one. It's just burning cold."

"Is that possible?" Rory shook his head.

"I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?" he turned to sit on the jump seat dejectedly.

"Ok," Rory nodded. "This is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?"

"Don't know," the Doctor shrugged, "But there it is, and I'd say we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."

"Because you know how to get us out of this?"

"Because we'll have frozen to death."

"Then what'll we do?" Amy asked.

The Doctor stood and took out a stethoscope, pressing it to the console. "Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle we have to lose."

"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory scoffed.

"What?"

"What, a weird new star, 14 minutes left to live, and only you one man to save the day. I just wanted a nice village and a family."

"Oh, dear, Doctor," the Dream Lord appeared behind him. "Dissent in the ranks. There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away, he let down his friends and was unable to prevent the death of his love…" he stopped, hearing the birdsong. "Oh, no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here."

~DW~

The Doctor rushed up the steps into the ruins while Amy and Rory dealt with the now awake and crying baby Daniel. "Where have all the children gone?" the Doctor mumbled to himself, running over to a few piles of dirt and cloth, flashing the sonic at them.

"Don't know," Rory answered the Doctor, shrugging. "Play time's probably over," he turned to Amy, who was bouncing the baby in her arms. "You see, this is the real one. I just _feel_ it. Don't you feel it?"

"I feel it in both places." Amy replied.

"I feel it here. It's just so tranquil and relaxed. Nothing bad could ever happen here."

"Not really me, though, is it? Would I be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops and a really bad amateur dramatics society? That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have see them doing 'Oklahoma'. Doctor, what are you doing? And what are those piles of dust?"

the Doctor let some dust fall through his fingers. "Play time's defiantly over."

"Oh, my god." Amy gasped.

"What happened to them?" Rory asked, horrified.

The Doctor looked out to the village where the elderly residents were walking along the path. "I think they did."

"They're just old people." Amy shook her head.

"No," the Doctor corrected. "They're _very_ old people," he headed down the steps, Amy and Rory following. "Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive."

The group walked down towards the elderly, who had gathered in a line facing them, when the Dream Lord appeared. "Hello, peasants," he grinned at them. "What's this, attack of the old people? Oh, that's ridiculous. This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the TARDIS," he chuckled, pointing at the Doctor. "You first!"

"Leave her alone!" the Doctor glared.

"Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall dark hero, 'leave her alone'. That's what I fell in love with."

"Just leave her!" Rory tried.

"Good try Simba, maybe one day you'll perfect your roar."

"Leave him alone!" Amy glared at him.

"I'd be surprised if the Doctor doesn't ruin your relationship, after all he did that to Rose and Mickey and don't get me started on _family_ relationships, I'm sure Daniel is waiting for the day that the Doctor gets bored with him and moves onto another woman… maybe Doctor Song."

"Drop it," the Doctor glared, though he was surprised by his knowledge of Rose and Mickey's relationship even Daniel didn't about Mickey. "Drop all of it. I know who you are."

"Course you don't."

"Course I do. No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the Universe who hates me as much as you do."

"Never mind me! Maybe you SHOULD worry about them."

The elderly began to close in and the Dream Lord vanished.

"Hi." Rory greeted them.

"Hello," the Doctor cut in. "We were wondering where you went. To get reinforcements! Are you alright? You look a bit tense."

"Hello, Mr. Nainby!" Rory greeted the man, stepping towards him.

"Rory…" the Doctor warned.

"Mr. Nainby ran the sweet shop. He used to slip me the odd free toffee," Mr. Nainby grabbed Rory by the collar and lifted him up. "Did I not say thank you?" and threw him back onto the mud. "How did he do that?" he quickly got to his feet.

"I suspect he's not himself," the Doctor commented. "Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run. Fast."

"Can't we just talk to them?" Amy suggested when the elderly opened their mouths to reveal a green, reptilian eye. "There is an eye in her mouth!"

The Doctor flashed the sonic at them. "There's a whole creature inside her. Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting."

"That is disgusting," Rory grimaced. "They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else are they?"

Mrs. Poggit leapt forward and shot a green mist at Rory. He jumped back, pulling Amy back with him.

"RUN!" the Doctor shouted as he stood in front of the aliens, allowing Amy and Rory to run away. "Ok, leave them, talk to me. Talk to me," he eyed them. "You are Eknodines, a proud, ancient race, you are better than this. Why are you hiding away here? Why aren't you at home?"

"We were driven from our pl..." Mrs. Poggit began.

"…planet by upstart neighbors." the Doctor nodded.

"We've been..." Nainby continued.

"…been living here inside the bodies of old humans for...years," he cut in with a sigh, now realising it. "No wonder they live so long, you're keeping them alive."

"We were humbled and destroyed." Mrs. Poggit continued. "Now we will do the same to others."

"Ok, makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough, could be real."

A man walking with his bike walked past them, offering them a smile "Morning." Only to have Mrs. Poggit shot her green mist at him, turning him to dust.

"You need to leave this planet," the Doctor turned to Mrs. Poggit, glaring, but she just screeched.

~DW~

The Doctor was stumbling as he ran down the road as the elderly followed, trying his hardest to fight off the need to sleep at the birdsong, before turning into a nearby butcher shop and locked the door, flipping the sign to read 'closed'.

"Oh, I love a good butcher's don't you?" the Dream Lord appeared behind the counter, dressed as a butcher. "We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. I'd say you're a vegetarian… but I know you like a good bit of meat."

The Doctor blushed, taking a key off a shelf and tried it on another door. "Oh, pipe down. I'm busy."

"Maybe you need a little sleep," the birdsong returned and the Doctor slipped to the floor. "Oh, wait a minute, if you fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye things," the Dream Lord leant against the counter, watching as the Doctor walked around the counter, putting his fingers in his ears. "Fingers in the ear? Brilliant! What's next, shouting boo?" the Doctor slid to the floor as the Dream Lord turned to motion the elderly in. "Come in. Come in. Yes, we've got lots of 'steak' here this week. Lots at steak. Get it?" the Doctor got up off the floor with a burst of energy and gripped at the door. "Are these jokes wasted on you?"

The Doctor made his way to the second freezer door but slid to the floor as the pensioners come closer. "Wait, stop…" the Doctor muttered, reaching into his pocket.

"Oh, I can't watch." The Dream Lord smirked, putting his hands over his eyes, but leaving his fingers parted.

The Doctor flashed his sonic at the lock and he practically fell into the room, slamming the door shut behind him, before falling to the floor as the elderly pounded at the door.

~DW~

The Doctor woke up on the TARDIS floor, Amy and Rory on either side.

Amy clutched the blanket around her tightly. "Ah, it's colder."

"The three of us have to agree, now, which is the dream."

"It's this, here." Rory insisted.

"He could be right," Amy agreed. "The science is all wrong here, burning ice?"

"No, no, no ice _can_ burn, sofas can read, it's a big universe," the Doctor corrected them. "We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now."

"Ok, which world do you think is real?" Amy asked him.

"This one." The Doctor nodded.

"No, the other one," Rory countered. "Look, I know you don't want Daniel dead in the other world, but you can't sacrifice everything for one man."

"Are you telling me that if it was Amy instead of Daniel, you'd choose the world where she was _dead_ instead of the chance she could be alive in the other?" Rory didn't answer, knowing that he would be making the same decision and the Doctor nodded. "That's what I thought," he looked down at his watch. "Nine minutes till impact."

"What temperature is it?" Amy asked.

"Outside? Brrr. How many noughts have you got? Inside? I don't know but I can't feel my feet and… other parts."

"I think all my parts are basically fine." Rory joked.

"Oi!" the Doctor shook his head.

"Can't we call for help?" Rory held up the phone.

"Oh yes, because the Universe is really small," the Doctor rolled his eyes. "bound to be someone nearby!" he tapped Rory on the head with it before hanging it up.

"Put these on, both of you." Amy cut in, throwing a blanket with a hole cut out at the Doctor and slipped another over Rory's head.

"Oh, a poncho," Rory looked down at the garment with a small smile. "The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen."

Amy put her own poncho on. "Here we go! My boys… my poncho boys," she stood between them, linking her arms with them. "If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band."

"We're not going to die." Rory shook his head, though as watched the star looming closer on the monitor.

"No, we're not," the Doctor agreed, checking his watch, getting back to the danger at hand, "But our time's running out. If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble," he started to pace. "If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why? Why? What's the logic?"

The Dream Lord appeared beside the Doctor, also wearing a poncho. "Good idea, sexy, let's divide you three up," the Dream Lord glanced down at the poncho and made a face of disgust. "That's gross," he pulled off the poncho and threw it to the floor. "Maybe I should have a chat with your lovely companion. Maybe I'll keep her, just for fun, and you can have Beaky to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber some sort of reality.

The birdsong began once again.

"Can you hear that?" Rory asked, looking at Amy.

"What? No." Amy shook her head, watching as the Doctor and Rory began to fall asleep.

"Amy, don't be scared, we'll be back." The Doctor reassured her.

And they fell to the floor, asleep.

~DW~

The Doctor awoke in the freezer, listening to the door as he pushed himself up. He pulled out this sonic, flashing it against the door. "Ok, where is it?" he pushed the door open, shooting out the lights above the elderly, and running through the confusion out onto the street.

He cut through a yard and came to a different street where an elderly man was trying to get into a VW bus to attack a man hiding inside.

"Oh, help, somebody!" the man yelled.

"You couldn't live near the shops, could you?" the Doctor muttered, running to the bus. He pushed the man away and climbed into the driver's seat. "It's ok, it's only me," he started the bus and quickly sped through the village, slowly as they spotted two young woman about to be surrounded by the elderly. The man slid open the back doors. "Get in, get in, get in. Quickly, quickly, over here. Quickly, come on, jump in. Quick get in now, quickly. Hurry up," the two women ran after the car, climbing into the side as the man slammed the door closed. "Are we in?" he asked, continuing on, only to shake his head, seeing a young family at the corner of another street. He slammed on the breaks. "Come on!" he called them over. "Let's go, quickly, all four, that's it everyone in!" before taking off again.

The Doctor pulled the bus up in front of a church, quickly getting the people out. "Everybody, out, out, out! Into the church, that's right. Don't answer the door."

He drove the bus away from the church, heading towards Amy and Rory's cottage. He looked into the review mirror to see the Dream Lord sitting in the backseat, his arms crossed and looked bored.

"It's make your mind up time in both worlds." The Dream Lord told him.

"It's make your mind up time in both worlds," he remarked.

"Bye," he glared. "I need to find my friends."

"Friends? Is that the right word for the people you acquire? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they've grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?"

He disappeared.

~DW~

the Doctor arrived at the cottage and saw the elderly laying siege to it. He eyed the building, looking for a way in. "Ok." He got out and ducked behind the bus.

~DW~

"I was staring to like it." He heard Amy gasped as he climbed up into the window.

The couple looked over at a squeaking noise in alarm, only to see the Doctor climbing into the yellow nursery through one of the windows.

"It's alright," the Doctor assured them, falling to the floor. "I had to stop off at the butcher's."

"What are we going to do?" Rory asked him.

"I don't know," he sighed, "I thought the freezing TARDIS was real but now I'm not so sure."

Daniel stared the cry from where Rory had placed him in the crib, Rory quickly ran over to his son to calm him.

"Why are they so desperate to kill us?" Amy asked.

They're afraid," the Doctor said. "Fear generates savagery."

A piece of garden statuary flew through the window. Rory moved away from Daniel to check and Mrs. Poggit popped up, shooting him in the shoulder with the green mist. He fell back with a groan, stumbling away and dropping to the ground by Amy as the Doctor ran over, whacking Mrs. Poggit with a lamp before turning to look at Amy and Rory.

"Rory!" Amy cried as she held onto her husband.

"No!" he groaned, "I'm not ready…" he started to dissolve.

"Stay…"

the Doctor looked away, wiping his eyes.

"Look after our baby…" he breathed before dissolving.

"No. No. Come back!" Amy looked at him, tears in her eyes, "Save him. You save everyone. You always do. It's what you do."

"Not always," he swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"Then what is the point of you?" she demanded, before taking a breath and pushing herself up, "This is the dream. Definitely, this one. Now, if we die here, we wake up, yeah?"

He nodded, "Unless we just die."

"Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream."

"How do you know?"

"Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it."

"I agree," he nodded, before looking over at the crib. "What about Daniel?" he had to ask.

"It's a dream," she told him, though she did hesitate at the door. "When we wake up, we'll have a chance of seeing a grown Daniel, and things will be happy," the pair walked down the stairs and out the front door. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"Either because this is just a dream or because they know what we're about to do," he sighed as they walked to the bus, Amy stopped to face him. "Be very sure. This could be the real world."

"It can't be. Rory isn't here. I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't, I honestly _didn't_ , till right now. I just want _him_."

The Doctor nodded. "Okay," he handed her the keys and held her hand tightly. "Okay."

She nodded and moved to the driver's side, getting in and starting the car as the Doctor got into the passenger's side.

"I love Rory, and I never told him, but now he's gone," Amy murmured as she drove the car forwards, smashing through the fence and straight at the front door.

~DW~

There was a thick layer of ice covering everything in the TARDIS as they woke up, each of the struggling to open their eyes. Amy reached out her hand to Rory, clasping his hand in her.

"So..." the Dream Lord appeared. "You chose this world. Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up," he walked over to the console and pushed a lever, restoring the power and starting to melt the ice. "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell," The Dream Lord slumped forward, Daniel reached out to catch himself on the console. "What happened?"

the Doctor stood slowly, reaching out for Daniel and pulled him into a hug, before he started to work on the controls.

Amy and Rory knelt, facing one another, "Something happened," Rory frowned, "I...what happened to me? I..." Amy just pulled him into a hug. "Oh. Oh, right. This is good. I am liking this. Was it something I said?" she pulled back and just looked at him, a smile on her face. "Can you tell what it was so I can use it in emergencies? And maybe birthdays."

The TARDIS started up again and they looked over. "What are we doing now?" Amy asked.

"Me?" the Doctor grinned. "We're going to blow up the TARDIS."

"What?" Daniel's eyes widened, unsure of anything that was going on.

"Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was?" the Doctor remarked. "Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice, and I could have done without the limerick, but he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality!"

"What are you doing?" Amy gasped.

"Doctor!" Rory shouted, "The Dream Lord conceded, he gave Daniel back. This isn't the dream!"

"Yes, it is." the Doctor nodded.

Amy looked at Rory with wide eyes. "Stop him!"

"Stars burning cold," the Doctor scoffed, "Do me a favor! The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams."

"How do you know that?" Amy asked.

"Because there is no reality where I would allow Daniel to die, not if it could stopi it, and I know who he is."

He pulled a lever and the TARDIS exploded.

~DW~

the Doctor was leaning against the console, looking at something in his hand as Amy and Rory stepped down from the stairs.

"Any questions?" the Doctor asked.

"What's that?" Amy nodded at the small, glittering bits in his hand.

"Specks of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava," the Doctor told them. "Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us," he went to the door and blew them into space.

"So that was the Dream Lord then, those little specks?" Rory frowned.

"No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me." Upon their confused faces, he explained himself. "Psychic pollen, it's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you. Gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm 907. It had a lot to go on."

"But why didn't it feed on us, too?" Amy asked.

"Darkness in you pair?" the Doctor almost laughed. "It would've starved to death in an instant. I choose our friends with great care. Otherwise we're stuck with our own company, and you know how that works out."

"But," Amy cut in, looking at the Doctor, "Those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?"

The Doctor didn't answer. "Amy, right now a question is about to occur to Rory," he spun her by the shoulders to face Rory. "And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should give him your full attention." He pushed her towards Rory and walked to the other side of the console.

"Yeah. Actually, yeah." Rory nodded.

"There it is."

"Cos what I don't get is you blew up the TARDIS, that stopped that dream, but what stopped the Leadworth dream?"

"We crashed the camper van." Amy told him, smiling shyly at him.

"Oh, right," Rory frown frowned. "I don't remember that bit."

"No, you weren't there, you were already..."

"Already what?"

"Dead," she looked away at the confession. "You died in that dream. Mrs. Poggit got you."

"Ok...but how did you know it was a dream? Before you crashed the van, how did you know you wouldn't just die?"

"I didn't." she admitted.

Rory's eyes widened, "Oh."

"Yeah."

And then he smiled, realizing something more, he reached out and took her hands. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'Oh.'"

Rory leaned in and kissed her, Amy quickly kissing him back as the Doctor watched on with a smile.

"So..." the Doctor applauded, "Well, then, where now? Or should we just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?"

"I don't know," Rory shook his head, the smile still etched on his face, "Anywhere's good for me. I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice."

The Doctor clapped his hands and turned to the controls, pausing when he saw the Dream Lord smile back at him in his reflection. His attention was quickly drawn away from the reflection as from the floor above, a concerned voice called out. "Doctor?" Daniel stepped out, dressed in a light blue shirt and faded blue jeans. "Amy? Rory?" He ran down the stairs and practically threw himself at couple.

Amy and Rory quickly hugged him, thankful that the _real_ Daniel was back with them, none of that Dream Lord 'Daniel' they had been dealing with. Daniel looked at the Doctor, concerned, before running over to pull him into a deep kiss much like the one Amy and Rory had shared.

~DW~

The Doctor leant against the doorway of Daniel's bedroom, the man was walking around with a toothbrush in his mouth and in his pyjamas. He was glad to have Daniel back, glad that Daniel's death had been nothing more then a nightmare, glad that the Dream Lord wasn't able to torment him by using his face.

Daniel turned to look at the Doctor, tilting his head to the side as he eyed the Doctor. "What?" Daniel asked, smiling around the toothbrush.

"Nothing," the Doctor smiled, shaking his head. "Just glad you're here."

"I'll always be here if you need me," Daniel turned to walk into the bathroom, walking back out into his bedroom. "Do you wanna come in? Tell me what's on your mind?"

The Doctor nodded, stepping into the room and closed the door behind him. It seemed that all was well in the TARDIS, but who knew that it would all change in the next coming adventure.

Up next is The Hungry Earth. Our next two parter which ends in distance for the travellers. Will Amy be sucked into the world below or will someone else take her place? Find out on _Sunday_!


	8. Return

The TARDIS was unusually still. There was no sign of the Doctor, nor Amy or Rory. But Daniel stood looking at the monitor, his attention focusing on the date presented before him.

Then chaos began to erupt around him, but we has unfazed. Fire erupted from the console, the cloister bell began to chime and the monitor screen cracked in half. The reflection gave way to the truth, as one half of crack reflection began to smirk while the other looked on in fear.

The date began to slowly unravel, but the console exploded around him. He held his out to the side; palms open as he softly began to rise in his spot as the fire began to form around his back. He was Daniel Young no more, but instead the most dangerous person in all of human history… he was _Phoenix_. And with an unnatural screech, the Phoenix threw its arms aside with such speed, that the inhuman power caused the TARDIS to exploded.

~DW~

Daniel gasped awake in his room of the TARDIS, hand held to his chest as he took heavy breaths to clear his mind of the dream he just witnessed… it all felt too real. He could almost still feel the heat from the TARDIS, he could fear the immense power flowing through his veins, and he could still hear the unnatural screech that had sounded from him.

"Daniel?" The Doctor asked from the other side of the door, the concern in his voice didn't go unnoticed. "Everything okay in there?"

No. he wanted to answer, but they had enough to deal with. "Just a bad dream," he assured him, slowly getting out of bed to answer the Time Lord. "I'll be out in a sec, okay."

It seemed to suffice the Doctor as he heard footsteps. Daniel smiled to himself and quickly ran into the bathroom, passed a small mirror he hadn't noticed and a calendar. In his hurry, he missed the fact his reflection in the small mirror hadn't moved with him, but instead was looking at the calendar with an evil glint.

"Watch out world," the reflection muttered. "Phoenix is back."

The To Own His Hearts Saga will return: **September 8th 2019**


End file.
